Microstructures design of the assembly of monodisperse polystyrene microspheres via alternative current electric field

Nanomaterials as building blocks offer a promising route for material preparation. And to this purpose, controllable assembly of nanomaterials and microstructure design of the assembly are of great significance. Herein, the assembly of monodisperse polystyrene microspheres under alternative current electric field was applied as a model system. The conditions, such as voltage and frequency of the electric field, surface charge of the spheres, solvents and salt concentration, were adjusted to obtain different microstructures of the assembly like chain, island and flower. Preliminary results indicates that surface states of the spheres plays a key role in the final structures while low dielectric constants of the solvents and high salt concentration only caused agglomeration of the microspheres. This work will bring new insight into the assembling process of the nanomaterials as well as understanding the mechanism controlling the microstructures of the assembly.