Polymer-assisted controllable self-assembly of inorganic nanocrystals in solution

Zhihong Nie (University of Maryland College Park)

The organization of nanoscale objects relative to one another and to larger structures is crucial to their utilization in sensing, energy, optoelectronics, and nanoelectronics. For example, ensembles of inorganic nanoparticles (i.e., metal, magnetic, or semiconductor) show interesting collective properties that may be quite different from their individuals or bulk materials, as a result of the inter-particle coupling. To date, polymers have been widely used in templating the self-assembly of nanoparticles, yet the precise control over the 3-D arrangement of nanoparticles remains a grand challenge. This talk will present our efforts to i) the development of new methodology to organize nanocrystals (i.e., metallic, semiconductor, and magnetic nanocrystals with different size and shape) into a diverse range of ordered complex nanostructures (i.e., nanovesicles, nanotubes, nanosheets, etc) in solution using polymer approaches, and ii) the quantitative evaluation of the process of nanoparticle self-assembly and the exploration of the design rules underlying nanoparticle self-assembly. The precise control over the interpartice distance and spatial arrangement of nanoparticles enable us to quantitatively evaluate the collective properties of the nanoparticle assemblies.

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