Fabrication and characterization of colloidal crystal thin films

We present a laboratory experiment that allows undergraduate or graduate students to get introduced to colloidal crystal research concepts in an interesting way. Moreover, such experiments and studies can also be useful in the field of crystallography or solid-state physics. The work concerns the growth of colloidal crystal thin films obtained from the crystallization of a latex colloidal solution in a wedge cell. Depending on the thickness of the sample, microcrystals with different structures and orientation are obtained. Colloidal arrangements are studied by scanning electronic microscopy images of the top and edge views of several areas of the crystals.