Figure 4.

Evaporation rate determines the orientation of NPLs. (a) The height of alkane layer/volume versus the time until complete evaporation after reaching the critical concentration [4.3 μmol/L, reached at alkane layer heights of 2.7 μm (volumes of 0.48 μL)]. Three regions (face-down, intermediate region and edge-up) can be identified. (b) Scheme of kinetically driven self-assembly. Fast evaporation leads to the kinetically trapped product, the face-down assembly. Slow evaporation leads to the thermodynamically favored product, the edge-up assembly.