Colloidal crystals have been the focus of intense scientific interest owing to the wide range
of proposed applications, including photonic crystal devices, sensor arrays and templates
for three-dimensionally ordered macro-porous materials (3-DOM). The broad spectrum of
interest stems from the exciting structural properties these materials possess, i.e. porosity,
interconnectivity and periodicity. The fabrication of colloidal crystals stripes with features
at the pitch of 25 - 450 μm is of interest for a number of reasons: First, to permit the
integration of colloidal crystal structures into devices; second, to increase understanding of
the mechanisms governing colloidal self-assembly; and third, to allow the creation of
arrays of heterostructures combining colloidal crystals of two or more sphere sizes.
However, it remains a significant challenge to direct the self-assembly of
three-dimensionally periodic colloidal crystals reproducibly over large areas, as the
patterning techniques are often time consuming and not suitable to scale-up.
In this thesis the successful formation of highly-ordered colloidal crystal stripes over large
areas is presented using the combination of two easily integrated techniques, micro-contact
printing (μ-CP) and evaporative vertical deposition (EVD). The large area over which
directed deposition has been achieved and the combination of μ-CP and EVD are novel.
The technique has also been demonstrated on functional substrates. This versatility and
scalability represents a significant step towards the formation of low-cost devices based on
these materials. Characterisation by reflectance spectroscopy, white light interferometry,
and optical and scanning electron microscopy establishes the high spatial selectivity of the
technique and the three-dimensional periodicity of the striped colloidal crystal arrays
formed.