Design and synthesis of multigrain nanocrystals via geometric misfit strain
- Inst. for Basic Science (IBS), Seoul (Korea, Republic of). Center for Nanoparticle Research; Seoul National Univ. (Korea, Republic of); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Materials Sciences Division; Kavli Energy NanoScience Institute, Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Inst. for Basic Science (IBS), Seoul (Korea, Republic of). Center for Nanoparticle Research; Seoul National Univ. (Korea, Republic of)
- Inst. for Basic Science (IBS), Seoul (Korea, Republic of). Center for Nanoparticle Research; Seoul National Univ. (Korea, Republic of). Research Institute of Advanced Materials (RIAM)
- Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Molecular Foundry
- Inst. for Basic Science (IBS), Seoul (Korea, Republic of). Center for Nanoparticle Research; Seoul National Univ. (Korea, Republic of); Hanyang Univ., Seoul (Korea, Republic of)
- Pohang Accelerator Lab. (PAL) (Korea, Republic of); Pohang Univ. of Science and Technology (POSTECH) (Korea, Republic of)
- Korea Advanced Inst. Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)
- Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
- Inst. for Basic Science (IBS), Seoul (Korea, Republic of). Center for Nanoparticle Research; Korea Advanced Inst. Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)
- Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Materials Sciences Division; Kavli Energy NanoScience Institute, Berkeley, CA (United States)
The impact of topological defects associated with grain boundaries (GB defects) on the electrical, optical, magnetic, mechanical and chemical properties of nanocrystalline materials is well known. Yet, elucidating this influence experimentally is difficult because grains typically exhibit a large range of sizes, shapes and random relative orientations. Here we demonstrate that precise control of the heteroepitaxy of colloidal polyhedral nanocrystals enables ordered grain growth and can thereby produce material samples with uniform GB defects. We highlight our approach with a multigrain nanocrystal comprising a Co3O4 nanocube core that carries a Mn3O4 shell on each facet. The individual shells are symmetry-related interconnected grains, and the large geometric misfit between adjacent tetragonal Mn3O4 grains results in tilt boundaries at the sharp edges of the Co3O4 nanocube core that join via disclinations. We identify four design principles that govern the production of these highly ordered multigrain nanostructures. First, the shape of the substrate nanocrystal must guide the crystallographic orientation of the overgrowth phase. Second, the size of the substrate must be smaller than the characteristic distance between the dislocations. Third, the incompatible symmetry between the overgrowth phase and the substrate increases the geometric misfit strain between the grains. Fourth, for GB formation under near-equilibrium conditions, the surface energy of the shell needs to be balanced by the increasing elastic energy through ligand passivation. With these principles, we can produce a range of multigrain nanocrystals containing distinct GB defects.
- Research Organization:
- University of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-05CH11231
- OSTI ID:
- 1619158
- Journal Information:
- Nature (London), Vol. 577, Issue 7790; ISSN 0028-0836
- Publisher:
- Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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