3D to 2D reorganization of silver-thiol nanostructures, triggered by solvent vapor annealing
Journal article, 2018
Metal-organic composites are of great interest for a wide range of applications. The control of their structure remains a challenge, one of the problems being a complex interplay of covalent and supramolecular interactions. This paper describes the self-assembly, thermal stability and phase transitions of ordered structures of silver atoms and thiol molecules spanning from the molecular to the mesoscopic scale. Building blocks of molecularly defined clusters formed from 44 silver atoms, each particle coated by a monolayer of 30 thiol ligands, are used as ideal building blocks. By changing solvent and temperature it is possible to tune the self-assembled 3D crystals of pristine nanoparticles or, conversely, 2D layered structures, with alternated stacks of Ag atoms and thiol monolayers. The study investigates morphological, chemical and structural stability of these materials between 25 and 300 °C in situ and ex situ at the nanoscale by combining optical and electronic spectroscopic and scattering techniques, scanning probe microscopies and density-functional theory (DFT) calculations. The proposed wet-chemistry approach is relatively cheap, easy to implement, and scalable, allowing the fabricated materials with tuned properties using the same building blocks.
Author
Simone Dell'Elce
Consiglo Nazionale Delle Richerche
F. Liscio
Consiglo Nazionale Delle Richerche
Alessandro Kovtun
Consiglo Nazionale Delle Richerche
Stefano Allegri
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL)
Otello M. Roscioni
University of Bologna
Cristiano Albonetti
Consiglo Nazionale Delle Richerche
Giovanna De Luca
University of Messina
Heinz W. Amenitsch
University of Graz
Nicola Demitri
Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste
Loris Giorgini
University of Bologna
V. Morandi
Consiglo Nazionale Delle Richerche
Francesco Stellacci
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL)
A. Liscio
Consiglo Nazionale Delle Richerche
Vincenzo Palermo
Consiglo Nazionale Delle Richerche
Chalmers, Industrial and Materials Science, Materials and manufacture
Nanoscale
2040-3364 (ISSN) 2040-3372 (eISSN)
Vol. 10 48 23018-23026Subject Categories
Inorganic Chemistry
Physical Chemistry
Materials Chemistry
DOI
10.1039/c8nr07109h
PubMed
30506071