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Updated: Jan 22, 2026

Liquid-cell Transmission Electron Microscopy for Tracking Self-assembly of Nanoparticles
Published on: October 16, 2017
Self-assembled carbon nanoparticles as messengers for artificial chemical communication
Giovanni Li-Destri1, Luca Fichera, Agatino Zammataro
1Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Catania, Viale A. Doria 6, 95125 Catania, Italy. giuseppe.trusso@unict.it n.tuccitto@unict.it.
Abstract:
Herein, supramolecular carbon nanoparticle aggregates were obtained via covalent functionalization of the shell of nanoparticles with triazine and subsequent hydrogen bonding reticulation upon the addition of naphthalene diimide. The resulting reticulated nanoparticles maintained the optical properties required for artificial chemical communication but exhibited a reduced diffusion coefficient, enabling sharper and more intense molecular bit capabilities when employed as chemical messengers. As a result, they are ideal candidates for the transport of information along extended fluid paths. We believe that our results represent a further step towards the understanding and optimization of all the experimental parameters affecting the information transfer efficiency in artificial chemical communication.
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