Abstract A wafer-scale colloidal monolayer consisting of SiO2 spheres is fabricated by a method combining spin coating and thermal treatment for the first time. Moreover, a new cellular automaton model describing the self-assembly process of the colloidal monolayer is introduced. Rather than simulate molecular self-assembly to establish the most energetically favored position, we reconstruct the self-assembly of the colloidal monolayer by adjusting several simple transition rules of a cellular automaton. This model captures the main self-assembly characteristics of SiO2 spheres, including experimental processing time, morphology, and some statistics. It possesses the advantage of less calculation and higher efficiency, paving a new way to simulate a mesoscopic system.
Fund: Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 81172082) and Anhui Provincial Scientific and Technological Project of China (Grant No. 12010202035).
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