A novel approach to the construction of 3-D ordered macrostructures with polyhedral particles

A novel and facile approach was developed for the fabrication of 3-D ordered macrostructures of polyhedral particles through coating and packing of monodisperse polystyrene-co-poly[3-(trimethoxylsilyl)propyl methacrylate] (St-co-TMSPM) microspheres with the amphiphilic triblock copolymer F127 and phenolic resol by centrifugation, and subsequent thermosetting treatment of the deposited microspheres. The polyhedral particles possess a regular shape of rhombic dodecahedra (∼1 µm) due to the spontaneous deformation of the fcc packed polymeric microspheres coated with resol–F127 composites during the thermosetting process. The amphiphilic triblock copolymer F127 plays a vital role in the formation of the ordered macrostructured polyhedral particles with compatible poly(St-co-TMSPM)–resin composites. The simplicity of the fabrication method should open up a new door to the synthesis of nonspherical particles and the construction of ordered macrostructures that possess unique properties for potential application in various fields such as photonic crystals.