Hou Lu, Li Wen-Cui, Wang Sijia, Lu An-Hui
State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, Liaoning Key Laboratory for Catalytic Conversion of Carbon Resources, School of Chemical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, P. R. China.
Small Methods. 2024 Dec;8(12):e2400423. doi: 10.1002/smtd.202400423. Epub 2024 Aug 12.
Ringy nanostructures are amazing materials, displaying unique optical, magnetic, and electronic properties highly related to their dimensions. A strategy capable of continuously tailoring the diameter of nanorings is the key to elucidating their structure-function relationship. Herein, a method of bi-component micellar-configuration-transformation induced by hydrophobicity for the synthesis of nanorings with diameters ranging from submicron (≈143 nm) to micron (≈4.8 µm) and their carbonaceous analogs is established. Remarkably, the nanorings fabricated with this liquid phase strategy achieve the record for the largest diameter span. Through varying the molecular lengths of fatty alcohols and copolymers, shortening the molecular length of fatty alcohol can swell the primary micelles, improve the exposure of hydrophobic component and boost the assembly kinetics for ultra-large nanorings is shown here. On the other hand, shortening the molecular length of the copolymer will give rise to ultra-small nanorings by reducing the size of primary micelles and shortening the assembly time. When assembling the nanorings into monolayer arrays and then depositing Au, such substrate displays enhanced surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) performance. This research develops a facile method for the controllable synthesis of ringy materials with multiscale tunable diameters and may inspire more interesting applications in physics, optical, and sensors.
环形纳米结构是令人惊叹的材料，展现出与它们的尺寸高度相关的独特光学、磁性和电子特性。一种能够连续调整纳米环直径的策略是阐明其结构 - 功能关系的关键。在此，建立了一种由疏水性诱导的双组分胶束构型转变方法，用于合成直径范围从亚微米（≈143纳米）到微米（≈4.8微米）的纳米环及其碳质类似物。值得注意的是，用这种液相策略制造的纳米环实现了最大直径跨度的记录。通过改变脂肪醇和共聚物的分子长度，缩短脂肪醇的分子长度会使初级胶束膨胀，提高疏水组分的暴露程度，并促进超大纳米环的组装动力学，这在此处得到了展示。另一方面，缩短共聚物的分子长度会通过减小初级胶束的尺寸和缩短组装时间而产生超小纳米环。当将纳米环组装成单层阵列然后沉积金时，这种基底显示出增强的表面增强拉曼散射（SERS）性能。这项研究开发了一种用于可控合成具有多尺度可调直径的环形材料的简便方法，并可能激发在物理、光学和传感器方面更多有趣的应用。
