Fabrication of colloidal crystals with hierarchical structure and its water adhesion properties

A facile fabrication method of colloidal crystals with hierarchical structure has been presented. The colloidal crystals were assembled from latex spheres with various uneven surfaces, which were simply synthesized via emulsion polymerization by varying initiator feeding times. The as-prepared colloidal crystals demonstrated the water adhesion properties, which could be modulated by designing the hierarchical structure of latex surface. The result provided a simple fabrication method for colloidal crystals with hierarchical structure and high water adhesion force. This would greatly extend the applications of colloidal crystals to many other important fields, for instance, microfluidic device.