Ab Initio Structure Determination of Cu2- xTe Plasmonic Nanocrystals by Precession-Assisted Electron Diffraction Tomography and HAADF-STEM Imaging

We investigated pseudo-cubic Cu2- xTe nanosheets using electron diffraction tomography and high-resolution HAADF-STEM imaging. The structure of this metastable nanomaterial, which has a strong localized surface plasmon resonance in the near-infrared region, was determined ab initio by 3D electron di...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Inorganic chemistry 2018-08, Vol.57 (16), p.10241-10248
Main Authors: Mugnaioli, Enrico, Gemmi, Mauro, Tu, Renyong, David, Jeremy, Bertoni, Giovanni, Gaspari, Roberto, De Trizio, Luca, Manna, Liberato
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:We investigated pseudo-cubic Cu2- xTe nanosheets using electron diffraction tomography and high-resolution HAADF-STEM imaging. The structure of this metastable nanomaterial, which has a strong localized surface plasmon resonance in the near-infrared region, was determined ab initio by 3D electron diffraction data recorded in low-dose nanobeam precession mode, using a new generation background-free single-electron detector. The presence of two different, crystallographically defined modulations creates a 3D connected vacancy channel system, which may account for the strong plasmonic response of this material. Moreover, a pervasive rotational twinning is observed for nanosheets as thin as 40 nm, resulting in a tetragonal pseudo-symmetry.
ISSN:1520-510X
DOI:10.1021/acs.inorgchem.8b01445