Nanosized blocks spontaneously assemble in water to create tiny floating checkerboards

Researchers from the University of California San Diego and Duke University have engineered nanosized cubes that spontaneously form a two-dimensional checkerboard pattern when dropped on the surface of water. Each nanocube is composed of a silver crystal with a mixture of hydrophobic (oily) and hydrophilic (water-loving) molecules attached to the surface. When a suspension of these nanocubes is introduced to a water surface, they arrange themselves such that they touch at their corner edges. This arrangement creates an alternating pattern of solid cubes and empty spaces, resulting in a checkerboard pattern.