Quantitative 3D evolution of colloidal nanoparticle oxidation in solution

Real-time tracking three-dimensional (3D) evolution of colloidal nanoparticles in solution is essential for understanding complex mechanisms involved in nanoparticle growth and transformation. We simultaneously use time-resolved small-angle and wide-angle x-ray scattering to monitor oxidation of hig...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2017-04, Vol.356 (6335)
Main Authors: Sun, Yugang, Zuo, Xiaobing, Sankaranarayanan, Subramanian K. R. S., Peng, Sheng, Narayanan, Badri, Kamath, Ganesh
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
MATERIALS SCIENCE
nanoparticle
SAXS
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Summary:Real-time tracking three-dimensional (3D) evolution of colloidal nanoparticles in solution is essential for understanding complex mechanisms involved in nanoparticle growth and transformation. We simultaneously use time-resolved small-angle and wide-angle x-ray scattering to monitor oxidation of highly uniform colloidal iron nanoparticles, enabling the reconstruction of intermediate 3D morphologies of the nanoparticles with a spatial resolution of ~5 Å. The in-situ probing combined with large-scale reactive molecular dynamics simulations reveals the transformational details from the solid metal nanoparticles to hollow metal oxide nanoshells via nanoscale Kirkendall process, for example, coalescence of voids upon their growth, reversing of mass diffusion direction depending on crystallinity, and so forth. In conclusion, our results highlight the complex interplay between defect chemistry and defect dynamics in determining nanoparticle transformation and formation.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203