Surfactant-Free Self-Assembly of Nanocrystals into Ellipsoidal Architectures

✍ Scribed by Dr. Bo Peng; Dong Chen; Dr. Zhengtao Deng; Ting Wen; Dr. Xianwei Meng; Xiangling Ren; Prof. Jun Ren; Prof. Fangqiong Tang

• Book ID: 102811263
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 573 KB
• Volume: 11
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1439-4235
• DOI: 10.1002/cphc.201000458

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

A simple approach to control the self‐assembly of ZnS nanocrystals into well‐defined, uniform, three‐dimensional, micrometer‐scale, solid ellipsoidal structures with rattle‐type, multishelled, and hollow architectures is presented. There is no surfactant or small molecule to assist the self‐assembly of the nanocrystals. A possible mechanism of the controlled self‐assembly is proposed. The growth process can be divided into two stages: 1) the formation of ellipsoidal architectures via oriented aggregation, the growth kinetics of which is primarily attributed to the charge–charge, charge–dipole, and dipole–dipole interactions of preformed ZnS nanocrystals; and 2) Ostwald ripening, which results in multishelled, rattle‐type, and hollow structures. This self‐assembly concept is also applicable to other metal sulfides.