Article
Chemistry, Physical
Xun Zha, Alex Travesset
Summary: A detailed investigation of nanoparticle binary superlattices was conducted, characterizing their properties, splayed ligand conformation, and overall stability, with orbifold topological model accurately predicting the structure. It was found that binary superlattices in experiments are dominated by many-body effects, with subleading effects playing a critical role in their stability. Vortices are discussed as fundamental bonding mechanisms with implications for experiments and future developments.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY C
(2021)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Ji-Chao Cheng, Ling-Yun Pan, Hong-Yu Tu, Hong-Jian Qi, Wen-Yu Ji, Fang-Fei Li, Ying-Hui Wang, Shu-Ping Xu, Zhi-Wei Men, Tian Cui
Summary: The study demonstrates that pressure can effectively adjust the interparticle spacing in binary nanoparticle superlattices, accelerating the electron transfer process. Additionally, the trap state of CdSe / ZnS QDs is found to impact the electron transfer process of BNSLs.
PHYSICA STATUS SOLIDI-RAPID RESEARCH LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Marcel Lach, Christian Strelow, Andreas Meyer, Alf Mews, Tobias Beck
Summary: In this study, protein nanocages were used as nanoscale building blocks for the assembly of gold nanoparticles and fluorescent molecules, resulting in the synthesis of binary nanomaterials with highly ordered structures. The cargo was encapsulated into the protein nanocages using a dis- and reassembly approach. The strong exciton-plasmon coupling between the encapsulated fluorophores and gold nanoparticles was observed in the binary crystals.
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
(2022)
Article
Energy & Fuels
In Pyo Park, Bu Kyeong Hwang, Soo Won Heo
Summary: Inverted organic photovoltaics (OPVs) with ZnO layers obtained by electron beam annealing (EBA) show high stability and power conversion efficiency (PCE). The OPV with optimal EBA ZnO layer achieves a PCE of 15.6%, 11.4% higher than the reference device. After 30 days at room temperature, the device retains 90.1% of its initial PCE, and after 280 hours at 90 degrees C, it retains 70.1% of its initial PCE. Moreover, it demonstrates outstanding environmental and thermal stability, retaining 85.0% of the initial PCE after 500 minutes of stability testing under 1 sun illumination in ambient air.
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Sung Bo Lee, Sung-Gyu Kang, Jinwook Jung, Simoon Sung, Seung Jo Yoo, Heung Nam Han
Summary: The structural evolution of Au nanoparticles on amorphous carbon under electron-beam irradiation was investigated using in situ high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. Some nanoparticles experienced lattice shear and fluctuation, while others rotated. These phenomena were related to electron-beam-induced heating and momentum transfer.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Shengsong Yang, R. Allen LaCour, Yi-Yu Cai, Jun Xu, Daniel J. Rosen, Yugang Zhang, Cherie R. Kagan, Sharon C. Glotzer, Christopher B. Murray
Summary: This study demonstrates the self-assembly of heterodimers consisting of two conjoined nanoparticles into multicomponent superlattices with long-range atomic alignment between the different nanoparticles. The self-assembly process exhibits a two-stage mechanism, indicating the selective epitaxial growth of the smaller domain and specific size ratios of the heterodimer domains are required for atomic alignment.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
(2023)
Article
Thermodynamics
Peng Zhang, Lidan Zhang
Summary: The study utilized a sophisticated Monte Carlo model to quantitatively investigate the temperature rise phenomenon during SEM imaging. The results revealed the temperature rise characteristics of different materials and the influencing factors, which is significant for understanding the physical mechanism of electron-beam-induced deposition.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THERMAL SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Ju Hyuk Lee, Heon Yong Jeong, Sang Yoon Lee, Sung Oh Cho
Summary: The study demonstrates that electron irradiation enables the formation of strong covalent bonds between HDPE and BA nanoparticles, significantly enhancing the elastic modulus, yield strength, and resistance to thermal shrinkage of the nanocomposite materials.
Article
Engineering, Chemical
Youjie Sheng, Yang Li, Canbin Yan, Yunchuan Peng, Li Ma, Qiuhong Wang
Summary: Foams stabilized by nanoparticles and surfactants have great research potential in environmentally friendly firefighting foams. This study investigates the effect of nanoparticles on the thermal stability of firefighting foams by preparing foam dispersions containing silica nanoparticles, hydrocarbon surfactant (CAD-40), and fluorocarbon surfactant (FS-50). The results show that the concentration of nanoparticles affects the molecular interactions, foaming ability, and thermal stability of the dispersions. Hydrophobic aggregates generated by the adsorption of surfactants on nanoparticle surfaces enhance the foam's thermal stability.
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Ievgen Solodkyi, Iurii Bogomol, Petro Loboda
Summary: A high-speed electron beam sintering technique was proposed for producing fully dense submicron-grained WC-8Co hardmetals in this study. By controlling thermal stresses during local electron beam heating at different rotation speeds, the sintering time of porous compacts to full density was shown to be less than 150 s, with well-sintered material obtained.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF REFRACTORY METALS & HARD MATERIALS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Hoduk Cho, Ivan A. Moreno-Hernandez, Vida Jamali, Myoung Hwan Oh, A. Paul Alivisatos
Summary: The study uses liquid-phase transmission electron microscopy and electron beam lithography to investigate interactions between nanorods in a predefined potential energy landscape. By changing starting spatial arrangements, the self-assembly behavior of nanorods following lift-off can be tuned.
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
B. Gross, S. Philipp, E. Josten, J. Leliaert, E. Wetterskog, L. Bergstrom, M. Poggio
Summary: Researchers have utilized sensitive dynamic cantilever magnetometry to study the magnetic properties of individual micrometer-sized gamma-Fe2O3 mesocrystals, revealing a clear cubic anisotropy. By combining the self-assembly of highly ordered mesocrystals with the ability to resolve their individual magnetism, the signatures of anisotropy and its origins have come to light. This combination holds promise for future studies of magnetic anisotropy in nanoparticles that are too small to investigate individually.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Sabin Adhikari, Brian Minevich, Daniel Redeker, Aaron Noam Michelson, Hamed Emamy, Eric Shen, Oleg Gang, Sanat K. Kumar
Summary: Recent studies have discovered new strategies using DNA-based self-assembly to organize nanomaterials into three-dimensional arrays with specific lattice symmetries. By sequestering the nanomaterial into DNA origami frames or material voxels and coordinating them based on voxel geometry and directional interactions, different crystalline morphologies can be formed. The strength of vertex-to-vertex interactions in orthogonal directions determines the specific assembly morphology.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Chiara Moretti, Claire Goldmann, Marianne Imperor-Clerc, Benjamin Abecassis
Summary: We report on the self-assembly of spherical gold nanoparticles at the liquid-air interface, where suitable conditions for obtaining long-range close-packed monolayers are identified. The assembly behavior is dependent on the size of the nanoparticles and the choice of ligand. The structures formed, such as glassy films, well-ordered monolayers, and quasicrystalline phases, are of great significance for the fabrication of functional devices.
CHEMISTRY OF MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Youjie Sheng, Yunchuan Peng, Shanwen Zhang, Ying Guo, Li Ma, Hanling Zhang
Summary: This study prepared mixed dispersions of SiO2 nanoparticles with different specific surface areas, nonionic surfactants, and fluorocarbon surfactants in water, and investigated their molecular interactions and the impact on foam stability. The results showed that the addition of nanoparticles can enhance the thermal stability of foam and contribute to the development of environmentally friendly firefighting foams.
JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR LIQUIDS
(2022)
Article
Physics, Multidisciplinary
Da Wang, Tonnishtha Dasgupta, Ernest B. van der Wee, Daniele Zanaga, Thomas Altantzis, Yaoting Wu, Gabriele M. Coli, Christopher B. Murray, Sara Bals, Marjolein Dijkstra, Alfons van Blaaderen
Summary: The influence of geometry on the local and global packing of particles is crucial, with binary mixtures of hard-sphere-like nanoparticles crystallizing into icosahedral clusters in bulk. The local structure of a significant portion of particles is similar to the MgCu(2)Laves phase, which has potential applications in photonics. The nucleation of icosahedral clusters is observed away from the spherical boundary, providing new insights into particle-level studies of binary crystallization.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Chenghui Xia, Adrian Pedrazo-Tardajos, Da Wang, Johannes D. Meeldijk, Hans C. Gerritsen, Sara Bals, Celso de Mello Donega
Summary: Colloidal copper(I) sulfide nanocrystals have unique optoelectronic properties, making them potential seeds for the synthesis of heteronanocrystals. By using a multistep synthesis strategy, Cu2-xS/ZnS Janus-type heteronanorods were successfully obtained with sharp heterointerfaces. This work demonstrates the rational synthesis of multicomponent heteronanorods by combining postsynthetic heteroepitaxial seeded growth and nanoscale cation exchange.
CHEMISTRY OF MATERIALS
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Jiangbo Xi, Sungeun Yang, Luca Silvioli, Sufeng Cao, Pei Liu, Qiongyang Chen, Yanyan Zhao, Hongyu Sun, Johannes Novak Hansen, Jens-Peter B. Haraldsted, Jakob Kibsgaard, Jan Rossmeisl, Sara Bals, Shuai Wang, Ib Chorkendorff
Summary: This study reported a method to stabilize Pd atoms on a carrier and prepared the Pd1/N-C catalyst, demonstrating high electrochemical H2O2 production rate and 80% Faradaic efficiency. The optimized adsorption energy of intermediate *OOH was found to be critical for efficient electrochemical H2O2 production.
JOURNAL OF CATALYSIS
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Muhammad Imran, Lucheng Peng, Andrea Pianetti, Valerio Pinchetti, Julien Ramade, Juliette Zito, Francesco Di Stasio, Joka Buha, Stefano Toso, Jun Song, Ivan Infante, Sara Bals, Sergio Brovelli, Liberato Manna
Summary: This study presents a novel method for synthesizing colloidal CsPbX3-Pb4S3Br2 (X = Cl, Br, I) nanocrystal heterostructures, demonstrating a sharp and atomically resolved epitaxial interface between a metal halide perovskite and a non-perovskite lattice. Density functional theory calculations and spectroscopic experiments confirm the characteristics of the heterostructures and the improved stability.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
(2021)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Charlie Greboval, Audrey Chu, Debora Vale Magalhaes, Julien Ramade, Junling Qu, Prachi Rastogi, Adrien Khalili, Sang-Soo Chee, Herve Aubin, Gregory Vincent, Sara Bals, Christophe Delerue, Emmanuel Lhuillier
Summary: This paper discusses how field-effect transistors (FETs) can be compatible with low-temperature detection and proposes two key developments. By gating nanocrystal films from SrTiO3 and compatibility with a plasmonic resonator, high gate capacitance and broadband absorption are achieved.
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Wiebke Albrecht, Sandra Van Aert, Sara Bals
Summary: The three-dimensional morphology and composition play a crucial role in governing the properties of nanopartides. In situ transmission electron microscopy is a promising tool for studying NP transformations under relevant conditions. By using specialized techniques like tomographic methods or atom counting, along with in situ holders, diffusion processes on a single nanoparticle level can be quantified. This provides valuable insights into the changes in plasmonic and catalytic properties of metal NPs in response to external stimuli.
ACCOUNTS OF CHEMICAL RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Maciej Baginski, Adrian Pedrazo-Tardajos, Thomas Altantzis, Martyna Tupikowska, Andreas Vetter, Ewelina Tomczyk, Radius N. S. Suryadharma, Mateusz Pawlak, Aneta Andruszkiewicz, Ewa Gorecka, Damian Pociecha, Carsten Rockstuhl, Sara Bals, Wiktor Lewandowski
Summary: This study presents proof-of-principle experiments decoding the crystallization of reconfigurable assemblies of nanoparticles in solid state. By utilizing XRD, TEM, and other techniques, the study explores the dependence and correlation in the process of crystallization of nanoparticles, providing insightful information on the anisotropic and reversibly reconfigurable assemblies of NPs.
Article
Microscopy
Hans Vanrompay, Alexander Skorikov, Eva Bladt, Armand Beche, Bert Freitag, Johan Verbeeck, Sara Bals
Summary: HAADF-STEM tomography is a widely used experimental technique for analyzing nanometer-scale structures of various materials in three dimensions, especially useful for studying crystalline nanoparticles. Various acquisition strategies have been proposed to accelerate tomographic acquisition and reduce the required electron dose, but experimental evaluation of these techniques is lacking.
Article
Microscopy
Chen Li, Adrian Pedrazo Tardajos, Da Wang, Daniel Choukroun, Kevin Van Daele, Tom Breugelmans, Sara Bals
Summary: This paper presents a simple and effective method for cleaning drop-cast TEM grids containing organic ligands, which significantly improves the quality of electron microscopy images and subsequent analytical measurements. By reducing the amount of ligands on TEM grids using activated carbon and ethanol, this method can be helpful in investigating various nanomaterials suffering from ligand-induced contamination.
Article
Microscopy
Jakeoung Koo, Anders B. Dahl, J. Andreas Baerentzen, Qiongyang Chen, Sara Bals, Vedrana A. Dahl
Summary: This paper proposes a mesh-based reconstruction method for addressing 3D reconstruction problems in tomography, using a differentiable forward model to directly reconstruct 3D shapes from projections. Experimental results demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method over traditional voxel-based methods on noisy simulated data and its applicability on electron tomography images of nanoparticles.
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Guillermo Gonzalez-Rubio, Pablo Diaz-Nunez, Wiebke Albrecht, Vanesa Manzaneda-Gonzalez, Luis Banares, Antonio Rivera, Luis M. Liz-Marzan, Ovidio Pena-Rodriguez, Sara Bals, Andres Guerrero-Martinez
Summary: The irradiation of colloidal Au@Ag core-shell nanorods with femtosecond laser pulses can produce bimetallic heterostructures and alloyed plasmonic nanocrystals with different morphologies and degrees of alloying. Advanced electron microscopy techniques and EDX tomography can reveal the morphology and elemental distribution of the irradiated nanoparticles and their optical properties. The method shows potential for the fabrication of unique multielemental nanoparticles for various applications such as catalytic, plasmonic, and magnetic applications.
ADVANCED OPTICAL MATERIALS
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Natan Blommaerts, Nick Hoeven, Daniel Arenas Esteban, Rui Campos, Myrjam Mertens, Rituraj Borah, Antonella Glisenti, Karolien De Wael, Sara Bals, Silvia Lenaerts, Sammy W. Verbruggen, Pegie Cool
Summary: In this study, a Ti-Beta zeolite was utilized in gas phase photocatalytic CO2 reduction with Pt and Pd nanoparticles to enhance efficiency and selectivity, achieving higher turnover frequency. Selectivity towards CO or CH4 could be adjusted by adding different nanoparticles, with significantly improved performance compared to the commercial benchmark P25.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL
(2021)
Article
Microscopy
Robin De Meyer, Wiebke Albrecht, Sara Bals
Summary: In situ TEM is a valuable technique for studying nanomaterial behavior, but interpreting results can be challenging due to the impact of the electron beam. This study investigated different treatments for removing ligands surrounding nanoparticles, and found that pre-treatments can significantly affect the thermal stability of the nanoparticles during in situ heating experiments. These results emphasize the importance of carefully selecting pre-treatment procedures in in situ heating experiments.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Zhijie Yang, Qiang Zhuang, Yong Yan, Guillermo Ahumada, Bartosz A. Grzybowski
Summary: Using amphiphilic Janus Au/Fe3O4 nanoparticles covered aqueous droplets suspended in an organic phase as building blocks, the droplet-based electronic circuitry displays rectification ability and can function as AND or OR gates or inversors when combined with salt-containing resistor droplets.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Pei Liu, Ece Arslan Irmak, Annick De Backer, Annelies De Wael, Ivan Lobato, Armand Beche, Sandra Van Aert, Sara Bals
Summary: This study successfully achieved an atomic resolution 3D investigation of supported Au nanoparticles by combining atom counting and molecular dynamics relaxation, and explored the structural evolution of these nanoparticles at different temperatures.
