Controlled
Co-Assembly of Nanoparticles and Polymer
into Ultralong and Continuous One-Dimensional Nanochains
- Publication date
- Publisher
Abstract
We
report a robust one-dimensional (1D) nanoparticle-assembly strategy
that uses the self-assembly of nanoparticles with ligand and thermal
controls, polyethylene glycol (PEG) with thiol and carboxyl groups,
and nanoparticle oligomer and polymer codewetting process to form
ultralong and continuous 1D nanochains. The 1D nanochains were assembled
with closely packed 1D nanoparticle oligomer building blocks, elongated
and buttressed by dynamic 1D PEG templates formed on a hydrophobic
surface via anisotropic spinodal dewetting. Using this strategy, nanoparticle-packed
1D nanochains (∼1 nm interparticle spacing) were fabricated
with ∼60 nm-width and a few to >10 μm-length (nearly
20 μm in some cases) from 20 nm gold nanoparticles. Our findings
offer insights and open revenues for particle assembly processes and,
as given by ‘universality in colloid aggregation’, should
be readily applicable to various nanoparticles