Mechanical reinforcement of polymer colloidal crystals by supercritical fluids

Colloidal crystals realized by self-assembled polymer nanoparticles have prominent attraction as a platform for various applications from assembling photonic and phononic crystals, acoustic metamaterials to coating applications. However, the fragility of these systems limits their application horizon. In this work the uniform mechanical reinforcement and tunability of 3D polystyrene colloidal crystals by means of cold soldering are reported. This structural strengthening is achieved by high pressure gas (N₂ or Ar) plasticization at temperatures well below the glass transition. Brillouin light scattering is employed to monitor in-situ the mechanical vibrations of the crystal and thereby determine preferential pressure, temperature and time ranges for soldering, i.e. formation of physical bonding among the nanoparticles while maintaining the shape and translational order. This low-cost method is potentially useful for fabrication and tuning of durable devices including applications in photonics, phononics, acoustic metamaterials, optomechanics, surface coatings and nanolithography.