Abstract
We present a combined experimental, theoretical, and simulation study on the self-assembly of colloidal hexagonal bipyramid- and hexagonal bifrustum-shaped ZnS nanocrystals (NCs) into two-dimensional superlattices. The simulated NC superstructures are in good agreement with the experimental ones. This shows that the self-assembly process is primarily driven by minimization of the interfacial free-energies and maximization of the packing density. Our study shows that a small truncation of the hexagonal bipyramids is sufficient to change the symmetry of the resulting superlattice from hexagonal to tetragonal, highlighting the crucial importance of precise shape control in the fabrication of functional metamaterials by self-assembly of colloidal NCs.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1032-1037 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Nano Letters |
Volume | 14 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Feb 2014 |
Funding
W.v.d.S. and C.d.M.D. acknowledge financial support from the division of Chemical Sciences (CW) of The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) under Grant ECHO.712.012.001. A.P.G and M.D. acknowledge financial support from an NWO-VICI grant. This work is part of the D-ITP consortium, a program of the NWO that is funded by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science (OCW).
Keywords
- Self-assembly
- anisotropic nanocrystals
- two-dimensional superlattices
- Monte Carlo Simulations
- BINARY NANOPARTICLE SUPERLATTICES
- QUANTUM-DOT SOLIDS
- BUILDING-BLOCKS
- CATION-EXCHANGE
- COPPER
- INTERFACE
- NANORODS
- FILMS