Self-assembly of ordered silica nanostructures by electrospray

•New technique to form thick (>25 layers), large area (1 cm2) 3D nanostructures.•Based on electrospraying SiO2 nanospheres onto a patterned polarized surface.•Is simple, easily scalable, and can be batch processed.•Overcomes previous fabrication drawbacks: it has no area nor thickness limitations.

In this paper we introduce the electrospray technique as a suitable method to create SiO2 3D ordered nanostructures. We describe the experimental procedure and deposition parameters required. We have found that the use of a high electric field is mandatory to, first, induce the Taylor cone and then, to get 3D order while the nanospheres assemble in the substrate in the drying phase.

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