Tunable assembly of truncated nanocubes by evaporation-driven poor-solvent enrichment

Abstract

Self-assembly of nanocrystals is extensively used to generate superlattices with long-range translational order and atomic crystallographic orientation, i.e. mesocrystals, with emergent mesoscale properties, but the predictability and tunability of the assembly methods are poorly understood. Here, we report how mesocrystals produced by poor-solvent enrichment can be tuned by solvent composition, initial nanocrystal concentration, poor-solvent enrichment rate, and excess surfactant. The crystallographic coherence and mesoscopic order within the mesocrystal were characterized using techniques in real and reciprocal spaces, and superlattice growth was followed in real time by small-angle X-ray scattering. We show that formation of highly ordered superlattices is dominated by the evaporation-driven increase of the solvent polarity and particle concentration, and facilitated by excess surfactant. Poor-solvent enrichment is a versatile nanoparticle assembly method that offers a promising production route with high predictability to modulate and maximize the size and morphology of nanocrystal metamaterials.