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Tunable Orientation and Assembly of Polymer-Grafted Nanocubes at Fluid-Fluid Interfaces.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Zhou, Y; Tang, T-Y; Lee, BH-J; Arya, G
Published in: ACS nano
May 2022

Self-assembly of faceted nanoparticles is a promising route for fabricating nanomaterials; however, achieving low-dimensional assemblies of particles with tunable orientations is challenging. Here, we demonstrate that trapping surface-functionalized faceted nanoparticles at fluid-fluid interfaces is a viable approach for controlling particle orientation and facilitating their assembly into unique one- and two-dimensional superstructures. Using molecular dynamics simulations of polymer-grafted nanocubes in a polymer bilayer along with a particle-orientation classification method we developed, we show that the nanocubes can be induced into face-up, edge-up, or vertex-up orientations by tuning the graft density and differences in their miscibility with the two polymer layers. The orientational preference of the nanocubes is found to be governed by an interplay between the interfacial area occluded by the particle, the difference in interactions of the grafts with the two layers, and the stretching and intercalation of grafts at the interface. The resulting orientationally constrained nanocubes are then shown to assemble into a variety of unusual architectures, such as rectilinear strings, close-packed sheets, bilayer ribbons, and perforated sheets, which are difficult to obtain using other assembly methods. Our work thus demonstrates a versatile strategy for assembling freestanding arrays of faceted nanoparticles with possible applications in plasmonics, optics, catalysis, and membranes, where precise control over particle orientation and position is required.

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Published In

ACS nano

DOI

EISSN

1936-086X

ISSN

1936-0851

Publication Date

May 2022

Volume

16

Issue

5

Start / End Page

7457 / 7470

Related Subject Headings

  • Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
 

Citation

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Zhou, Y., Tang, T.-Y., Lee, B.-J., & Arya, G. (2022). Tunable Orientation and Assembly of Polymer-Grafted Nanocubes at Fluid-Fluid Interfaces. ACS Nano, 16(5), 7457–7470. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.1c10416
Zhou, Yilong, Tsung-Yeh Tang, Brian Hyun-Jong Lee, and Gaurav Arya. “Tunable Orientation and Assembly of Polymer-Grafted Nanocubes at Fluid-Fluid Interfaces.ACS Nano 16, no. 5 (May 2022): 7457–70. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.1c10416.
Zhou Y, Tang T-Y, Lee BH-J, Arya G. Tunable Orientation and Assembly of Polymer-Grafted Nanocubes at Fluid-Fluid Interfaces. ACS nano. 2022 May;16(5):7457–70.
Zhou, Yilong, et al. “Tunable Orientation and Assembly of Polymer-Grafted Nanocubes at Fluid-Fluid Interfaces.ACS Nano, vol. 16, no. 5, May 2022, pp. 7457–70. Epmc, doi:10.1021/acsnano.1c10416.
Zhou Y, Tang T-Y, Lee BH-J, Arya G. Tunable Orientation and Assembly of Polymer-Grafted Nanocubes at Fluid-Fluid Interfaces. ACS nano. 2022 May;16(5):7457–7470.
Journal cover image

Published In

ACS nano

DOI

EISSN

1936-086X

ISSN

1936-0851

Publication Date

May 2022

Volume

16

Issue

5

Start / End Page

7457 / 7470

Related Subject Headings

  • Nanoscience & Nanotechnology