Interactions between interfaces dictate stimuli-responsive emulsion behaviour.

Stimuli-responsive emulsions offer a dual advantage, combining long-term storage with controlled release triggered by external cues such as pH or temperature changes. This study establishes that thermo-responsive emulsion behaviour is primarily determined by interactions between, rather than within, interfaces. Consequently, the stability of these emulsions is intricately tied to the nature of the stabilizing microgel particles - whether they are more polymeric or colloidal, and the morphology they assume at the liquid interface. The colloidal properties of the microgels provide the foundation for the long-term stability of Pickering emulsions. However, limited deformability can lead to non-responsive emulsions. Conversely, the polymeric properties of the microgels enable them to spread and flatten at the liquid interface, enabling stimuli-responsive behaviour. Furthermore, microgels shared between two emulsion droplets in flocculated emulsions facilitate stimuli-responsiveness, regardless of their internal architecture. This underscores the pivotal role of microgel morphology and the forces they exert on liquid interfaces in the control and design of stimuli-responsive emulsions and interfaces.

Light, Matter, Action: Shining Light on Active Matter.

Light carries energy and momentum. It can therefore alter the motion of objects on the atomic to astronomical scales. Being widely available, readily controllable, and broadly biocompatible, light is also an ideal tool to propel microscopic particles, drive them out of thermodynamic equilibrium, and make them active. Thus, light-driven particles have become a recent focus of research in the field of soft active matter. In this Perspective, we discuss recent advances in the control of soft active matter with light, which has mainly been achieved using light intensity. We also highlight some first attempts to utilize light's additional properties, such as its wavelength, polarization, and momentum. We then argue that fully exploiting light with all of its properties will play a critical role in increasing the level of control over the actuation of active matter as well as the flow of light itself through it. This enabling step will advance the design of soft active matter systems, their functionalities, and their transfer toward technological applications.

Interfacial self-assembly of SiO2-PNIPAM core-shell particles with varied crosslinking density.

Spherical particles confined to liquid interfaces generally self-assemble into hexagonal patterns. It was theoretically predicted by Jagla two decades ago that such particles interacting via a soft repulsive potential are able to form complex, anisotropic assembly phases. Depending on the shape and range of the potential, the predicted minimum energy configurations include chains, rhomboid and square phases. We recently demonstrated that deformable core-shell particles consisting of a hard silica core and a soft poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) shell adsorbed at an air/water interface can form chain phases if the crosslinker is primarily incorporated around the silica core. Here, we systematically investigate the interfacial self-assembly behavior of such SiO2-PNIPAM core-shell particles as a function of crosslinker content and core size. We observe chain networks predominantly at low crosslinking densities and smaller core sizes, whereas higher crosslinking densities lead to the formation of rhomboid packing. We correlate these results with the interfacial morphologies of the different particle systems, where the ability to expand at the interface and form a thin corona at the periphery depends on the degree of crosslinking close to the core. We perform minimum energy calculations based on Jagla-type pair potentials with different shapes of the soft repulsive shoulder. We compare the theoretical phase diagram with experimental findings to infer to which extent the interfacial interactions of the experimental system may be captured by Jagla pair-wise interaction potentials.

Versatile strategy for homogeneous drying patterns of dispersed particles.

After spilling coffee, a tell-tale stain is left by the drying droplet. This universal phenomenon, known as the coffee ring effect, is observed independent of the dispersed material. However, for many technological processes such as coating techniques and ink-jet printing a uniform particle deposition is required and the coffee ring effect is a major drawback. Here, we present a simple and versatile strategy to achieve homogeneous drying patterns using surface-modified particle dispersions. High-molecular weight surface-active polymers that physisorb onto the particle surfaces provide enhanced steric stabilization and prevent accumulation and pinning at the droplet edge. In addition, in the absence of free polymer in the dispersion, the surface modification strongly enhances the particle adsorption to the air/liquid interface, where they experience a thermal Marangoni backflow towards the apex of the drop, leading to uniform particle deposition after drying. The method is independent of particle shape and applicable to a variety of commercial pigment particles and different dispersion media, demonstrating the practicality of this work for everyday processes.

Boxes fabricated from plate-stabilized liquid marbles.

Polyhedral liquid marbles were fabricated using hydrophobic polymer plates in the shape of a circle, a heart and a star as a stabilizer and water as an inner liquid phase. Boxes could be fabricated by the evaporation of the inner water from the liquid marbles. The fabrication efficiency and stability of these boxes as a function of the plate shape were investigated. Functional materials such as polymers and colloidal particles were successfully introduced into the boxes.

Anisotropic silicon nanowire arrays fabricated by colloidal lithography.

The combination of metal-assisted chemical etching (MACE) and colloidal lithography allows for the affordable, large-scale and high-throughput synthesis of silicon nanowire (SiNW) arrays. However, many geometric parameters of these arrays are coupled and cannot be addressed individually using colloidal lithography. Despite recent advancements towards higher flexibility, SiNWs fabricated via colloidal lithography and MACE usually have circular, isotropic cross-sections inherited from the spherical templates. Here we report a facile technique to synthesize anisotropic SiNWs with tunable cross-sections via colloidal lithography and MACE. Metal films with an elliptical nanohole array can form from shadows of colloidal particles during thermal evaporation of the metal at tilted angles. The aspect ratio of these anisotropic holes can be conveniently controlled via the deposition angle. Consecutive MACE using these patterned substrates with or without prior removal of the templating spheres results in arrays of anisotropic SiNWs with either elliptical or crescent-shaped cross-sections, respectively. As a consequence of the anisotropy, long SiNWs with elliptical cross-sections preferentially collapse along their short axis, leading to a controlled bundling process and the creation of anisotropic surface topographies. These results demonstrate that a rich library of SiNW shapes and mesostructures can be prepared using simple spherical colloidal particles as masks.

Collapse-induced phase transitions in binary interfacial microgel monolayers.

Microgels, consisting of a swollen polymer network, exhibit a more complex self-assembly behavior compared to incompressible colloidal particles, because of their ability to deform at a liquid interface or collapse upon compression. Here, we investigate the collective phase behavior of two-dimensional binary mixtures of microgels confined at the air/water interface. We use stimuli-responsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) microgels with different crosslinking densities, and therefore different morphologies at the interface. We find that the minority microgel population introduces lattice defects in the ordered phase of the majority population, which, in contrast to bulk studies, do not heal out by partial deswelling to accommodate in the lattice. We subsequently investigate the interfacial phase behavior of these binary interfacial assemblies under compression. The binary system exhibits three distinct isostructural solid-solid phase transitions, during which the coronae between two small particles collapse first, followed by the collapse between small-large and large-large microgel pairs. A similar hierarchy of phase transitions is found for mixtures of microgels and core-shell particles. Simulations based on augmented potentials qualitatively reproduce the experimentally observed phase transitions. We rationalize the presence of this hierarchy in phase transitions from differences in the interfacial morphology between the species: the larger coronae of softer (and therefore larger) microgels provide a higher resistance to phase transitions compared to the smaller coronae of the more crosslinked microgels and core-shell particles. The control of phase transitions via the molecular architecture further allows the formation of characteristic, flower-like defects by introducing particles with "weaker" coronae that are more prone to collapse with their neighboring particles. Our findings underline the dominating role of the corona for interfacial microgel assemblies, which acts as an energy barrier, shifting the collapse to higher surface pressures.

Interface-induced hysteretic volume phase transition of microgels: simulation and experiment.

Thermo-responsive microgel particles can exhibit a drastic volume shrinkage upon increasing the solvent temperature. Recently we found that the spreading of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNiPAm) microgels at a liquid interface under the influence of surface tension hinders the temperature-induced volume phase transition. In addition, we observed a hysteresis behavior upon temperature cycling, i.e. a different evolution in microgel size and shape depending on whether the microgel was initially adsorbed to the interface in expanded or collapsed state. Here, we model the volume phase transition of such microgels at an air/water interface by monomer-resolved Brownian dynamics simulations and compare the observed behavior with experiments. We reproduce the experimentally observed hysteresis in the microgel dimensions upon temperature variation. Our simulations did not observe any hysteresis for microgels dispersed in the bulk liquid, suggesting that it results from the distinct interfacial morphology of the microgel adsorbed at the liquid interface. An initially collapsed microgel brought to the interface and subjected to subsequent swelling and collapsing (resp. cooling and heating) will end up in a larger size than it had in the original collapsed state. Further temperature cycling, however, only shows a much reduced hysteresis, in agreement with our experimental observations. We attribute the hysteretic behavior to a kinetically trapped initial collapsed configuration, which relaxes upon expanding in the swollen state. We find a similar behavior for linear PNiPAm chains adsorbed to an interface. Our combined experimental - simulation investigation provides new insights into the volume phase transition of PNiPAm materials adsorbed to liquid interfaces.

Soft Particles at Liquid Interfaces: From Molecular Particle Architecture to Collective Phase Behavior.

Soft particles such as microgels can undergo significant and anisotropic deformations when adsorbed to a liquid interface. This, in turn, leads to a complex phase behavior upon compression. To date, experimental efforts have predominantly provided phenomenological links between microgel structure and resulting interfacial behavior, while simulations have not been entirely successful in reproducing experiments or predicting the minimal requirements for the desired phase behavior. Here, we develop a multiscale framework to link the molecular particle architecture to the resulting interfacial morphology and, ultimately, to the collective interfacial phase behavior. To this end, we investigate interfacial morphologies of different poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) particle systems using phase-contrast atomic force microscopy and correlate the distinct interfacial morphology with their bulk molecular architecture. We subsequently introduce a new coarse-grained simulation method that uses augmented potentials to translate this interfacial morphology into the resulting phase behavior upon compression. The main novelty of this method is the possibility to efficiently encode multibody interactions, the effects of which are key to distinguishing between heterostructural (anisotropic collapse) and isostructural (isotropic collapse) phase transitions. Our approach allows us to qualitatively resolve existing discrepancies between experiments and simulations. Notably, we demonstrate the first in silico account of the two-dimensional isostructural transition, which is frequently found in experiments but elusive in simulations. In addition, we provide the first experimental demonstration of a heterostructural transition to a chain phase in a single-component system, which has been theoretically predicted decades ago. Overall, our multiscale framework provides a phenomenological bridge between physicochemical soft-particle characteristics at the molecular scale and nanoscale and the collective self-assembly phenomenology at the macroscale, serving as a stepping stone toward an ultimately more quantitative and predictive design approach.

Large-Scale Synthesis of Highly Uniform Silicon Nanowire Arrays Using Metal-Assisted Chemical Etching.

The combination of metal-assisted chemical etching (MACE) with colloidal lithography has emerged as a simple and cost-effective approach to nanostructure silicon. It is especially efficient at synthesizing Si micro- and nanowire arrays using a catalytic metal mesh, which sinks into the silicon substrate during the etching process. The approach provides a precise control over the array geometry, without requiring expensive nanopatterning techniques. Although MACE is a high-throughput solution-based approach, achieving large-scale homogeneity can be challenging because of the instability of the metal catalyst when the experimental parameters are not set appropriately. Such instabilities can lead to metal film fracture, significantly damaging the substrate and thus compromising the nanowire array quality. Here, we report on the critical parameters that influence the stability of the metal catalyst layer for achieving large-scale homogeneous MACE: etchant composition, metal film thickness, adhesion layer thickness, nanowire diameter and pitch, metal film coverage, Si/Au/etchant interface length, and crystalline quality of the colloidal template (grain size and defects). Our results investigate the origin of the catalyst film fracture and reveal that MACE experiments should be optimized for each Si wire array geometry by keeping the etch rate below a certain threshold. We show that the Si/Au/etchant interface length also affects the etch rate and should thus be considered when optimizing the MACE experimental parameters. Finally, our results demonstrate that colloidal templates with small grain sizes (i.e., <100 µm2) can yield significant problems during the pattern transfer because of a high density of defects at the grain boundaries that negatively affects the metal film stability. As such, this work provides guidelines for the large-scale synthesis of Si micro- and nanowire arrays via MACE, relevant for both new and experienced researchers working with MACE.

Spatioselective Deposition of Passivating and Electrocatalytic Layers on Silicon Nanowire Arrays.

Metal-silicon nanowire array photoelectrodes provide a promising architecture for water-splitting because they can afford high catalyst loading and decouple charge separation from the light absorption process. To further improve and understand these hybrid nanowire photoelectrodes, control of the catalyst amount and location within the wire array is required. Such a level of control is currently synthetically challenging to achieve. Here, we report the synthesis of cm2-sized hybrid silicon nanowire arrays with electrocatalytically active Ni-Mo and Pt patches placed at defined vertical locations within the individual nanowires. Our method is based on a modified three-dimensional electrochemical axial lithography (3DEAL), which combines metal-assisted chemical etching (MACE) to produce Si nanowires with spatially defined SiO2 protection layers to selectively cover and uncover specific areas within the nanowire arrays. This spatioselective SiO2 passivation yields nanowire arrays with well-defined exposed Si surfaces, with feature sizes down to 100 nm in the axial direction. Subsequent electrodeposition directs the growth of the metal catalysts at the exposed silicon surfaces. As a proof of concept, we report photoelectrocatalytic activity of the deposited catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction on p-type Si nanowire photocathodes. This demonstrates the functionality of these hybrid metal/Si nanowire arrays patterned via 3DEAL, which paves the way for investigations of the influence of three-dimensional geometrical parameters on the conversion efficiency of nanostructured photoelectrodes interfaced with metal catalysts.

Effect of Stabilizing Particle Size on the Structure and Properties of Liquid Marbles.

A liquid marble (LM) describes a liquid droplet that is wrapped by nonwetting micro- or nanoparticles and therefore obtains characteristics of a solid powder particle. Here, we investigate the effect of the stabilizing particle size on the resulting structure and properties of the LM. We synthesize a series of polystyrene particles with ultrathin coatings of heptadecafluorooctanesulfonic acid-doped polypyrrole with diameters ranging between 1 and 1000 µm by an aqueous chemical oxidative seeded polymerization of pyrrole. The methodology produced a set of hydrophobic particles with similar surface characteristics to allow the formation of LMs and to probe size effects in the LM formation and stabilization efficiency. We found that particles with a size above 20 µm adsorb as a particle monolayer to the surface of the LM, while smaller particles are adsorbed as ill-defined, multilayered aggregates. These results indicate that the balance between particle-particle interaction and gravity is an important parameter to control the surface structure of the LMs. The assembly behavior and size of the particles also correlated with the mechanical integrity of the LM against fall impact. The mechanical resistance was affected by the gap distance between the inner liquid of the LM and supporting substrate, the capillary forces acting between the particles at the LM surface, and the potential energy that depended on the particle size. Last, we demonstrate that the broadband light-absorbing properties of the polypyrrole shell also allow manipulating the evaporation rate of the inner liquid.

Chiral Surface Lattice Resonances.

Collective excitation of periodic arrays of metallic nanoparticles by coupling localized surface plasmon resonances to grazing diffraction orders leads to surface lattice resonances with narrow line width. These resonances may find numerous applications in optical sensing and information processing. Here, a new degree of freedom of surface lattice resonances is experimentally investigated by demonstrating handedness-dependent excitation of surface lattice resonances in arrays of chiral plasmonic crescents. The self-assembly of particles used as mask and modified colloidal lithography is applied to produce arrays of planar and 3D gold crescents over large areas. The excitation of surface lattice resonances as a function of the interparticle distance and the degree of order within the arrays is investigated. The chirality of the individual 3D crescents leads to the formation of chiral lattice modes, that is, surface lattice resonances that exhibit optical activity.

Probing particle heteroaggregation using analytical centrifugation.

The controlled aggregation of colloidal particles is not only a widespread natural phenomenon but also serves as a tool to design complex building blocks with tailored shape and functionalities. However, the quantitative characterization of such heteroaggregation processes remains challenging. Here, we demonstrate the use of analytical centrifugation to characterize the heteroaggregation of silica particles and soft microgels bearing similar surface charges. We investigate the attachment as well as the stability of the formed heteroaggregates as a function of particle to microgel surface ratio, microgel size and the influence of temperature. The attachment of microgels onto the colloidal particles induces a change in the sedimentation coefficient, which is used to quantitatively identify the number of attached microgels. We corroborate the shift in sedimentation coefficient by computer simulations of the frictional properties of heteroaggregates via a modified Brownian dynamic algorithm. The comparison between theoretical investigations and experiments suggest that the microgels deform and flatten upon attachment.

Morphology-Graded Silicon Nanowire Arrays via Chemical Etching: Engineering Optical Properties at the Nanoscale and Macroscale.

We report on a quick, simple, and cost-effective solution-phase approach to prepare centimeter-sized morphology-graded vertically aligned Si nanowire arrays. Gradients in the nanowire diameter and shape are encoded through the macroscale substrate via a "dip-etching" approach, where the substrate is removed from a KOH etching solution at a constant rate, while morphological control at the nanowire level is achieved via sequential metal-assisted chemical etching and KOH etching steps. This combined approach provides control over light absorption and reflection within the nanowire arrays at both the macroscale and nanoscale, as shown by UV-vis spectroscopy and numerical three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain simulations. Macroscale morphology gradients yield arrays with gradually changing optical properties. Nanoscale morphology control is demonstrated by synthesizing arrays of bisegmented nanowires, where the nanowires are composed of two distinct segments with independently controlled lengths and diameters. Such nanowires are important to tailor light-matter interactions in functional devices, especially by maximizing light absorption at specific wavelengths and locations within the nanowires.

Pattern formation in two-dimensional hard-core/soft-shell systems with variable soft shell profiles.

Hard-core/soft shell (HCSS) particles have been shown to self-assemble into a remarkably rich variety of structures under compression due to the simple interplay between the hard-core and soft-shoulder length scales in their interactions. Most studies in this area model the soft shell interaction as a square shoulder potential. Although appealing from a theoretical point of view, the potential is physically unrealistic because there is no repulsive force in the soft shell regime, unlike in experimental HCSS systems. To make the model more realistic, here we consider HCSS particles with a range of soft shell potential profiles beyond the standard square shoulder form and study the model using both minimum energy calculations and Monte Carlo simulations. We find that by tuning density and the soft shell profile, HCSS particles in the thin shell regime (i.e., shell to core ratio ) can form a large range of structures, including hexagons, chains, squares, rhomboids and two distinct zig-zag structures. Furthermore, by tuning the density and r1/r0, we find that HCSS particles with experimentally realistic linear ramp soft shoulder repulsions can form honeycombs and quasicrystals with 10-fold and 12-fold symmetry. Our study therefore suggests the exciting possibility of fabricating these exotic 2D structures experimentally through colloidal self-assembly.

Particle Monolayer-Stabilized Light-Sensitive Liquid Marbles from Polypyrrole-Coated Microparticles.

Liquid marbles are water droplets coated with solid particles that prevent coalescence and allow storage, transport, and handling of liquids in the form of a powder. Here, we report on the formation of liquid marbles that are stabilized entirely by a single monolayer of solid particles and thus minimize the amount of required solid material. As stabilizing particles, we synthesize relatively monodisperse, 80 µm-sized polystyrene (PS) particles coated with heptadecafluorooctanesulfonic acid-doped polypyrrole (PPy-C8F) shell (PS/PPy-C8F particles) by aqueous chemical oxidative seeded polymerization of pyrrole using FeCl3 as an oxidant and heptadecafluorooctanesulfonic acid as a hydrophobic dopant. We characterize the physicochemical properties of the particles as a function of the PPy-C8F loading. Laser diffraction particle size analyses of dilute aqueous suspensions indicate that the polymer particles disperse stably in water medium before and after coating with the PPy-C8F shell. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy studies indicate the formation of a PPy-C8F shell around the PS seed particles, which was further supported by deflated morphologies observed by scanning electron microscopy after extraction of the PS component from the PS/PPy-C8F particles. We investigate the performance of the dried PS/PPy-C8F particles to stabilize liquid marbles. Stereo- and laser microscope observations, as well as gravimetric studies, confirm that the PS/PPy-C8F particles adsorb to the water droplet surface in the form of a particle monolayer with the characteristic hexagonal close-packed structure expected for spherical (colloidal) particles. Mechanical integrity of the liquid marble increases with an increase of PPy-C8F loading of the PS/PPy-C8F particles. The water contact angle of the PS/PPy-C8F particles at air-water interface increases from 82 ± 12° to 102 ± 17° with an increase of PPy-C8F loading. This increase in water contact angle directly correlates with the shape of the LM, with higher contact angles giving more spherical LMs. Furthermore, the broadband light absorption properties of the PPy coating was used to control evaporation rate of the enclosed water phase on demand by irradiation with a near-infrared laser. The evaporation rate could be finely controlled by the thickness of the PPy-C8F shell of the particles stabilizing the liquid marbles.

Poly-N-isopropylacrylamide Nanogels and Microgels at Fluid Interfaces.

The confinement of colloidal particles at liquid interfaces offers many opportunities for materials design. Adsorption is driven by a reduction of the total free energy as the contact area between the two liquids is partially replaced by the particle. From an application point of view, particle-stabilized interfaces form emulsions and foams with superior stability. Liquid interfaces also effectively confine colloidal particles in two dimensions and therefore provide ideal model systems to fundamentally study particle interactions, dynamics, and self-assembly. With progress in the synthesis of nanomaterials, more and more complex and functional particles are available for such studies. In this Account, we focus on poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) nanogels and microgels. These are cross-linked polymeric particles that swell and soften by uptaking large amounts of water. The incorporated water can be partially expelled, causing a volume phase transition into a collapsed state when the temperature is increased above approximately 32 °C. Soft microgels adsorbed to liquid interfaces significantly deform under the influence of interfacial tension and assume cross sections exceeding their bulk dimensions. In particular, a pronounced corona forms around the microgel core, consisting of dangling chains at the microgel periphery. These polymer chains expand at the interface and strongly affect the interparticle interactions. The particle deformability therefore leads to a significantly more complex interfacial phase behavior that provides a rich playground to explore structure formation processes. We first discuss the characteristic "fried-egg" or core-corona morphology of individual microgels adsorbed to a liquid interface and comment on the dependence of this interfacial morphology on their physicochemical properties. We introduce different theoretical models to describe their interfacial morphology. In a second part, we introduce how ensembles of microgels interact and self-assemble at liquid interfaces. The core-corona morphology and the possibility to force these elements into overlap upon compression results in a complex phase behavior with a phase transition between microgels with extended and collapsed coronae. We discuss the influence of the internal particle architecture, also including core-shell microgels with rigid cores, on the phase behavior. Finally, we present new routes for the realization of more complex structures, resulting from multiple deposition protocols and from engineering the interaction potential of the individual particles.

Stimuli-Responsive Behavior of PNiPAm Microgels under Interfacial Confinement.

The volume phase transition of microgels is one of the most paradigmatic examples of stimuli-responsiveness, enabling a collapse from a highly swollen microgel state into a densely coiled state by an external stimulus. Although well characterized in bulk, it remains unclear how the phase transition is affected by the presence of a confining interface. Here, we demonstrate that the temperature-induced volume phase transition of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) microgels, conventionally considered an intrinsic molecular property of the polymer, is in fact largely suppressed when the microgel is adsorbed to an air/liquid interface. We further observe a hysteresis in the core morphology and interfacial pressure between heating and cooling cycles. Our results, supported by molecular dynamics simulations, reveal that the dangling polymer chains of microgel particles, spread at the interface under the influence of surface tension, do not undergo any volume phase transition. The balance in free energy responsible for the volume phase transition is fundamentally altered by interfacial confinement. These results imply that important technological properties of such systems, including the temperature-induced destabilization of emulsions, do not occur via a decrease in the interfacial coverage of the microgels.

A Dirty Story: Improving Colloidal Monolayer Formation by Understanding the Effect of Impurities at the Air/Water Interface.

Colloidal monolayers are important tools to fabricate surface structures at the nanoscale. A typical monolayer fabrication strategy involves the self-assembly of colloidal building blocks at liquid interfaces, which are subsequently deposited on a solid substrate. Even though this process is well established, the resulting order of the particles within the colloidal monolayer differs between batches of colloidal particles and can even change with the age of the dispersion. In this study, we investigate the origins of this variation of monolayer quality for polystyrene particles synthesized by surfactant-free emulsion polymerization. We correlate the interfacial behavior of the colloidal particles at the air/water interface on a Langmuir trough with the resulting quality of the monolayer after transfer to a solid substrate. We identify surface-active impurities as a major cause for a disturbed self-assembly of the colloidal particles. These impurities form during the particle synthesis and consist of copolymers of styrene, the comonomer acrylic acid, and sulfonate species from the initiator. We show that they can be removed by cleaning protocols to increase the monolayer quality. However, our experiments demonstrate that the impurities reappear over time even for cleaned dispersions, indicating desorption from the surface of the colloidal particles. We identify strategies to avoid the presence of the impurities at the air/water interface or to inhibit their effect on the self-assembly process. These simple guidelines improve the quality of the resulting colloidal monolayer, which is a prerequisite for the reliable fabrication of high-quality surface nanostructures from colloidal templates.