Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA.
J Am Chem Soc. 2012 Jul 18;134(28):11342-5. doi: 10.1021/ja3032295. Epub 2012 Jul 9.
Controllable self-assembly of nanoscale building blocks into larger specific structures provides an effective route for the fabrication of new materials with unique optical, electronic, and magnetic properties. The ability of nanoparticles (NPs) to self-assemble like molecules is opening new research frontiers in nanoscience and nanotechnology. We present a new class of amphiphilic "colloidal molecules" (ACMs) composed of inorganic NPs tethered with amphiphilic linear block copolymers (BCPs). Driven by the conformational changes of tethered BCP chains, such ACMs can self-assemble into well-defined vesicular and tubular nanostructures comprising a monolayer shell of hexagonally packed NPs in selective solvents. The morphologies and geometries of these assemblies can be controlled by the size of NPs and molecular weight of BCPs. Our approach also allows us to control the interparticle distance, thus fine-tuning the plasmonic properties of the assemblies of metal NPs. This strategy provides a general means to design new building blocks for assembling novel functional materials and devices.
可控的纳米级构建块自组装成更大的特定结构，为制造具有独特光学、电子和磁性能的新材料提供了有效途径。纳米颗粒 (NPs) 像分子一样自组装的能力为纳米科学和纳米技术开辟了新的研究前沿。我们提出了一类由与两亲性线性嵌段共聚物 (BCP) 键合的无机 NPs 组成的新型两亲性“胶体分子”(ACMs)。受键合 BCP 链构象变化的驱动，此类 ACM 可以自组装成具有选择溶剂中六方密堆积 NPs 单层壳的规则囊泡和管状纳米结构。这些组装体的形态和几何形状可以通过 NPs 的尺寸和 BCP 的分子量来控制。我们的方法还允许我们控制颗粒间的距离，从而微调金属 NPs 组装体的等离子体特性。该策略为设计用于组装新型功能材料和器件的新型构建块提供了一种通用方法。
