Controlling colloidal morphologies by critical Casimir forces.

Active control over the assembly of colloidal and nanoparticles has important applications for the design of new nanostructured materials, but it is a difficult task. Here, a new method is presented to control the morphology of colloidal aggregates using critical Casimir forces. Via direct temperature control of critical Casimir forces, the particles are assembled into aggregates with well-defined architecture.