8 research outputs found
Forming Nanoparticle Monolayers at Liquid–Air Interfaces by Using Miscible Liquids
One standard way of forming monolayers
(MLs) of nanoparticles (NPs)
is to drop-cast a NP dispersion made using one solvent onto a second,
immiscible solvent; after this upper solvent evaporates, the NP ML
can be transferred to a solid substrate by liftoff. We show that this
previously universal use of only immiscible solvent pairs can be relaxed
and close-packed, hexagonally ordered NP monolayers can self-assemble
at liquid–air interfaces when some miscible solvent pairs are
used instead. We demonstrate this by drop-casting an iron oxide NP
dispersion in toluene on a dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) liquid substrate.
The NPs are energetically stable at the DMSO surface and remain there
even with solvent mixing. Excess NPs coagulate and precipitate in
the DMSO, and this limits NPs at the surface to approximately 1 ML.
The ML domains at the surface nucleate independently, which is in
contrast to ML growth at the receding edge of the drying drop, as
is common in immiscible solvent pair systems and seen here for the
toluene/diethylene glycol immiscible solvent pair system. This new
use of miscible solvent pairs can enable the formation of MLs for
a wider range of NPs
Reducing Strain and Fracture of Electrophoretically Deposited CdSe Nanocrystal Films. II. Postdeposition Infusion of Monomers
Thick electrophoretically deposited (EPD) films of ligand-capped
colloidal nanocrystals (NCs) typically crack when removed from the
deposition solvent due to the loss of residual solvent. We report
the suppression of fracture in several micrometers thick EPD films
of CdSe NCs by treating the wet, as-deposited films with solutions
of polymer precursor monomers, followed by UV-initiated polymerization.
The monomers diffuse into voids and, for several monomers, dissolve
the NCs to form a uniform dispersion in the film
Reducing Strain and Fracture of Electrophoretically Deposited CdSe Nanocrystal Films. I. Postdeposition Infusion of Capping Ligands
Thick electrophoretically deposited (EPD) films of ligand-capped
colloidal nanocrystals that adhere to the substrate typically crack
after they are removed from the deposition solvent due to the loss
of residual solvent. We report the suppression of fracture in several
micrometers thick EPD films of CdSe nanocrystals by treating the wet,
as-deposited films with solutions containing the NC core-capping ligand,
trioctylphosphine oxide (TOPO). The increase in TOPO ligand density
increases photoluminescence of the dried film and leads to a decrease
in elastic modulus
Resolving the Growth of 3D Colloidal Nanoparticle Superlattices by Real-Time Small-Angle X‑ray Scattering
The kinetics and intricate interactions governing the
growth of
3D single nanoparticle (NP) superlattices (SLs, SNSLs) and binary
NP SLs (BNSLs) in solution are understood by combining controlled
solvent evaporation and <i>in situ</i>, real-time small-angle
X-ray scattering (SAXS). For the iron oxide (magnetite) NP SLs studied
here, the larger the NP, the farther apart are the NPs when the SNSLs
begin to precipitate and the closer they are after ordering. This
is explained by a model of NP assembly using van der Waals interactions
between magnetite cores in hydrocarbons with a ∼21 zJ Hamaker
constant. When forming BNSLs of two different sized NPs, the NPs that
are in excess of that needed to achieve the final BNSL stoichiometry
are expelled during the BNSL formation, and these expelled NPs can
form SNSLs. The long-range ordering of these SNSLs and the BNSLs can
occur faster than the NP expulsion
Resolving the Growth of 3D Colloidal Nanoparticle Superlattices by Real-Time Small-Angle X‑ray Scattering
The kinetics and intricate interactions governing the
growth of
3D single nanoparticle (NP) superlattices (SLs, SNSLs) and binary
NP SLs (BNSLs) in solution are understood by combining controlled
solvent evaporation and <i>in situ</i>, real-time small-angle
X-ray scattering (SAXS). For the iron oxide (magnetite) NP SLs studied
here, the larger the NP, the farther apart are the NPs when the SNSLs
begin to precipitate and the closer they are after ordering. This
is explained by a model of NP assembly using van der Waals interactions
between magnetite cores in hydrocarbons with a ∼21 zJ Hamaker
constant. When forming BNSLs of two different sized NPs, the NPs that
are in excess of that needed to achieve the final BNSL stoichiometry
are expelled during the BNSL formation, and these expelled NPs can
form SNSLs. The long-range ordering of these SNSLs and the BNSLs can
occur faster than the NP expulsion
Resolving the Growth of 3D Colloidal Nanoparticle Superlattices by Real-Time Small-Angle X‑ray Scattering
The kinetics and intricate interactions governing the
growth of
3D single nanoparticle (NP) superlattices (SLs, SNSLs) and binary
NP SLs (BNSLs) in solution are understood by combining controlled
solvent evaporation and <i>in situ</i>, real-time small-angle
X-ray scattering (SAXS). For the iron oxide (magnetite) NP SLs studied
here, the larger the NP, the farther apart are the NPs when the SNSLs
begin to precipitate and the closer they are after ordering. This
is explained by a model of NP assembly using van der Waals interactions
between magnetite cores in hydrocarbons with a ∼21 zJ Hamaker
constant. When forming BNSLs of two different sized NPs, the NPs that
are in excess of that needed to achieve the final BNSL stoichiometry
are expelled during the BNSL formation, and these expelled NPs can
form SNSLs. The long-range ordering of these SNSLs and the BNSLs can
occur faster than the NP expulsion
Passivation of CdSe Quantum Dots by Graphene and MoS<sub>2</sub> Monolayer Encapsulation
The encapsulation of a monolayer
of CdSe quantum dots (QDs) by
one-to-three layer graphene and MoS<sub>2</sub> sheets protects the
QDs from oxidation. Photoluminescence (PL) from the QD cores shows
a much slower decrease in core diameter over time due to slower oxidation
in regions where the QDs are covered by van der Waals (vdW) layers
than in those where they are not, for chips stored both in the dark
and in the presence of light. PL mapping shows that the CdSe QDs under
the central part of the vdW sheet age slower than those near its edges,
because oxidation of the covered QDs is limited by transport of oxygen
from the edges of the vdW sheets and not transport across the vdW
layers. The transport of oxygen to the covered QDs is analyzed by
coupling the PL results and a model of QD core oxidation
Small Angle X‑ray Scattering of Iron Oxide Nanoparticle Monolayers Formed on a Liquid Surface
In situ small-angle X-ray scattering
(SAXS) is used to show that
iron oxide nanoparticles (NPs) of a range of sizes form hexagonally
ordered monolayers (MLs) on a diethylene glycol liquid surface, after
drop-casting the NPs in hexane and subsequent hexane evaporation.
The formation of the ordered NP ML is followed in real time by SAXS
when using a heptane solvent. During drying, the NPs remain in the
hexane or heptane layer, and an ordered structure is not formed then.
After drying, the NPs are farther apart than expected from only van
der Waals attraction between the NP cores and Brownian motion considerations,
which suggests the importance of ligand attraction in binding the
NPs