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Updated: May 4, 2026
Liquid-cell Transmission Electron Microscopy for Tracking Self-assembly of Nanoparticles
Published on: October 16, 2017
Self-Assembly and Thermal Stability of Binary Superlattices of Gold and Silicon Nanocrystals
Yixuan Yu1, Christian A Bosoy, Detlef-M Smilgies
1Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas Materials Institute and Center for Nano- and Molecular Science and Technology, The Univiersity of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, 78712-1062, United States.
Abstract:
Simple hexagonal (sh) AB2 binary superlattices (BSLs) of organic ligand-capped silicon (A; 5.40(±9.8%) nm diameter) and gold (B; 1.88(±10.1%) nm diameter) nanocrystals were assembled by evaporation of colloidal dispersions and characterized using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS). When deposited on tilted substrates by slow evaporation, the sh-AB2 superlattice contracts slightly towards the substrate with centered orthorhombic structure. Heating the BSL to 200°C in air led to gold coalescence and segregation to the surface of the assembly without disrupting the Si nanocrystal sublattice, thus creating a simple hexagonal superlattice of Si nanocrystals.
