Influence of Particle Size and Mobility

To be effective, convective assembly requires free suspended particles that can be easily dragged by hydrodynamic forces. In the previous paragraphs, we have already shown that the convective assembly mechanism is perfectly compatible with PS particles in the micrometer range. 

However, contrary to capillary assembly (see the next section), the assembly of particles sedimenting quickly compared to the duration of the experiments ( 10 min) or particles interacting strongly with surfaces is nearly impossible (results not shown). 

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