Nano materials precisely self-assemble into hierarchical nanostructure components with high order, demonstrating interesting cooperative and coupling effects. However, due to the uncontrollable nature of the building unit nanoparticles, precisely guiding the construction of nanoparticle assemblies with controlled morphology and properties remains a contemporary challenge. This study employs a polymer monolayer micelle self-assembly strategy to fabricate highly ordered hierarchical atomic-precise gold nanocluster (AuNC) components, using a reasonable star-shaped diblock copolymer as a patch polymer template. Nearly monodisperse spherical secondary structure nano-cluster assemblies with well-defined surface anisotropy are prepared as colloidal monomers, enabling the precise colloidal polymerization of these different symmetries of nanoparticles in different solvent mixtures to form larger hierarchical complex morphologies (1D chains, branches, spheres). The study of dynamics allows for the quantitative control of the degree of polymerization of linear hierarchical nanocluster chains. Therefore, we infer that this star-shaped polymer monolayer micelle template-guided self-assembly strategy may provide a convenient and powerful platform for manufacturing layered nano-material assemblies, applicable to potential applications such as catalysis, optics, and biological imaging.
This research was published in ACS Nano under the title "Precision Colloidal Polymerization of Hierarchical Gold Nanocluster Assemblies". References:
DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.5c19127