Cooperation, competition and multi-scale reorganisation: reconfigurable assembly of spherical colloids under combined...

Field-induced assembly of complex, reconfigurable structures has recently gained significant attention for its potential in programmable self-assembly and micro/nanofabrication. While electric and magnetic fields can independently form diverse colloidal structures, combining them offers enhanced control, design flexibility and reconfigurability. Here we demonstrate multi-scale reorganisation of colloidal superstructures assembled under combined AC electric and DC magnetic fields, where comparable dipolar and electrohydrodynamic interactions create a rich, tunable phase space. Unlike prior studies which were mostly limited to purely dipolar regimes, our results reveal cooperative, competitive, and multi-scale, multi-stage reorganisation modes depending on field parameters. We explicitly demonstrate reversible switching between a wide range of structural configurations. Imaging and Fourier analysis show how field strength, frequency, direction, and sequence dictate structure formation. We further demonstrate that introducing an additional level of complexity through binary particle systems yields unexpected structures. This versatile, multi-field strategy enables bottom-up fabrication of adaptive, functional microsystems.