Center for Functional Nanomaterials Seminar

Organized arrays of inorganic nanoparticles show electronic, optical, and magnetic properties that originate from the coupling of size- and shape-dependent properties of individual nanoparticles (NPs). Controllable and predictable organization of NPs in complex, hierarchical structures provides a route to the fabrication of new materials and functional devices. Substantial progress has been achieved in the bottom-top organization of NPs arrays, yet, currently, this approach remains largely empirical.

In our work, we proposed two new paradigms for the self-assembly of NPs. One of the approaches exploits a striking analogy between amphiphilic ABA triblock copolymers and polymer-tethered inorganic nanorods in structures with varying geometries. The self-assembly was tunable and reversible, and it was achieved solely by changing the solvent quality for the constituent polymer or inorganic blocks. We mapped the self-assembly process by using the phase-like diagrams. In the second approach, we used the similarity between the self-assembly of NPs and step-growth polymerization to describe the kinetics and statistics of nanoparticle assembly and predict the formation of linear, branched and cyclic structures.

We demonstrate the ability to control the optical properties of the self-assembled nanostructures. The proposed strategy provides a new route to the quantitatively predicted organization of nanoparticles in supracolloidal assemblies.