  The method of formation of nanoparticle aggregates such as high-coverage
spherical shells of microspheres or 3-D micro crystals grown in the geometry
unaffected by a substrate is described. In the reported experiment, the
evaporation of single levitated water droplet containing 200 nm diameter
polystyrene spheres was studied. Successive stages of the drying process were
discussed by analyzing the intensity of light elastically scattered by the
evaporating droplet. The numerically simulated self-assembly coincides nicely
with the observed morphologies resulting from transformation of a droplet of
suspension into a solid microcrystal via kinetically driven self-assembly of
nanostructures.
