Unravelling three-dimensional adsorption geometries of PbSe nanocrystal monolayers at a liquid-air interface

Jaco J. Geuchies, Giuseppe Soligno, Ellenor Geraffy, Cedric P. Hendrikx, Carlo van Overbeek, Federico Montanarella, Marlou R. Slot, Oleg V. Konovalov, Andrei V. Petukhov, Daniel Vanmaekelbergh

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

The adsorption, self-organization and oriented attachment of PbSe nanocrystals (NCs) at liquid-air interfaces has led to remarkable nanocrystal superlattices with atomic order and a superimposed nanoscale geometry. Earlier studies examined the NC self-organization at the suspension/air interface with time-resolved in-situ X-ray scattering. Upon continuous evaporation of the solvent, the NC interfacial layer will finally contact the (ethylene glycol) liquid substrate on which the suspension was casted. In order to obtain structural information on the NC organization at this stage of the process, we examined the ethylene glycol/NC interface in detail for PbSe NCs of different sizes, combining in-situ grazing-incidence small-and-wide-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS/GIWAXS), X-ray reflectivity (XRR) and analytical calculations of the adsorption geometry of these NCs. Here, we observe in-situ three characteristic adsorption geometries varying with the NC size. Based on the experimental evidence and simulations, we reveal fully three-dimensional arrangements of PbSe nanocrystals at the ethylene glycol-air interface with and without the presence of rest amounts of toluene.
Original languageEnglish
Article number28
Number of pages10
JournalCommunications Chemistry
Volume3
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2 Mar 2020

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