Reversible, Tunable, Electric-Field Driven Assembly of Silver Nanocrystal Superlattices

Nanocrystal superlattices are typically fabricated by either solvent evaporation or destabilization methods that require long time periods to generate highly ordered structures. In this paper, we report for the first time the use of electric fields to reversibly drive nanocrystal assembly into super...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nano letters 2017-06, Vol.17 (6), p.3862-3869
Main Authors: Yu, Yixuan, Yu, Dian, Orme, Christine A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ag nanocrystals
colloidal crystals
field-driven assembly
grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering
MATERIALS SCIENCE
Superlattice
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Summary:Nanocrystal superlattices are typically fabricated by either solvent evaporation or destabilization methods that require long time periods to generate highly ordered structures. In this paper, we report for the first time the use of electric fields to reversibly drive nanocrystal assembly into superlattices without changing solvent volume or composition, and show that this method only takes 20 min to produce polyhedral colloidal crystals, which would otherwise need days or weeks. This method offers a way to control the lattice constants and degree of preferential orientation for superlattices and can suppress the uniaxial superlattice contraction associated with solvent evaporation. In situ small-angle X-ray scattering experiments indicated that nanocrystal superlattices were formed while solvated, not during drying.
ISSN:1530-6984
1530-6992
DOI:10.1021/acs.nanolett.7b01323