Method to synthesize nanoparticle supercrystals
AssigneeNational Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC
InventorsHongyou Fan, Kaifu Bian
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Abstract
Highly ordered arrays of 3D faceted nanoparticle supercrystals are formed by self-assembly with controlled nanoparticle packing and unique facet dependent optical property by using a binary solvent diffusion method. The binary diffusion results in supercrystals whose size and quality are determined by initial nanoparticle concentration and diffusion speed. The supercrystal solids display unique facet-dependent surface plasmonic and surface-enhanced Raman characteristics. The supercrystals have potential applications in areas such as optics, electronics, and sensor platforms.
Claims18
A method to synthesize nanoparticle supercrystals, comprising:
- providing a colloidal suspension of ligand-capped nanoparticles in a non-polar solvent, and
- counter-diffusing the non-polar solvent and a polar anti-solvent into each other to form a solvent/anti-solvent mixture, thereby slowly precipitating nanoparticle supercrystals from the colloidal suspension, wherein the concentration of nanoparticles in the solvent/anti-solvent mixture is greater than 2 mg/mL.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.