Crystallization of silica colloids within spherical confinements

Abstract

In this thesis the packing of hard spheres within a spherical confinement was studied. Therefore silica colloids were dispersed in a waterdroplet. The waterdroplet was let to shrink, letting the silica colloids self-assemble into a crystalstructure within the spherical confinement of the waterdroplet. According to theory an icosahedron like structure should be formed. The crystalstructure was analyzed using confocal microscopy, tracking software which determined the positing of all particles and software that determined different crystalline domains within the clusters. A fully crystalline icosahedron has not been found but its five-fold symmetry has been observed in two clusters consisting roughly 18000 particles.