Shape-controlled growth of two-dimensional kagome-lattice colloidal crystals through nanoparticle capping

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Hauptverfasser: Huang, Rui, Wilson, Jordan Austin-Frank, Sun, Allen, Harlow, Artemis, Li, Zhiwei
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Huang, Rui
Wilson, Jordan Austin-Frank
Sun, Allen
Harlow, Artemis
Li, Zhiwei
author_facet Huang, Rui
Wilson, Jordan Austin-Frank
Sun, Allen
Harlow, Artemis
Li, Zhiwei
contents Organic capping ligands can selectively bind to crystal facets to modulate growth kinetics and are important in chemical synthesis of inorganic nanocrystals. Using the capping ligands for shape-controlled growth of colloidal crystals is challenging due to the size mismatch of molecules and nanoparticle building blocks. In existing synthetic pathways, colloidal crystal shapes are determined by their thermodynamically favored phases yet controlling their shapes independent of lattice symmetry is vital to study many solid-state properties. Here, we develop a nanoparticle capping strategy to control colloidal crystal shapes and structural heterogeneity. Au bipyramids were used as building blocks and assembled into rhombohedral colloidal crystals driven by DNA hybridization. In (111) planes of the crystals, bipyramids assembled into kagome lattices, featuring structure cavities organized in a hexagonal lattice. The rhombohedral crystals have truncated tetrahedral crystal habits, and the degree of truncation defines the exposed facets and crystal shapes. Our surface capping strategy is to introduce DNA-modified nanospheres as effective capping agents, which selectively register on the surface vacancies of the kagome facets and resemble the role of organic ligands in classic nanocrystal growth. Such selective capping is driven by maximizing DNA hybridization and leads to slower growth of the (111) kagome facets, changing the crystal shape from three-dimensional truncated tetrahedra to two-dimensional layered microplates with structural heterogeneity and shape anisotropy. This study underpins the importance of capping agents in colloidal crystal growth and inspires effective ways to control the growth kinetics and heterostructures of colloidal crystals.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_06630
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Shape-controlled growth of two-dimensional kagome-lattice colloidal crystals through nanoparticle capping
Huang, Rui
Wilson, Jordan Austin-Frank
Sun, Allen
Harlow, Artemis
Li, Zhiwei
Soft Condensed Matter
Materials Science
Organic capping ligands can selectively bind to crystal facets to modulate growth kinetics and are important in chemical synthesis of inorganic nanocrystals. Using the capping ligands for shape-controlled growth of colloidal crystals is challenging due to the size mismatch of molecules and nanoparticle building blocks. In existing synthetic pathways, colloidal crystal shapes are determined by their thermodynamically favored phases yet controlling their shapes independent of lattice symmetry is vital to study many solid-state properties. Here, we develop a nanoparticle capping strategy to control colloidal crystal shapes and structural heterogeneity. Au bipyramids were used as building blocks and assembled into rhombohedral colloidal crystals driven by DNA hybridization. In (111) planes of the crystals, bipyramids assembled into kagome lattices, featuring structure cavities organized in a hexagonal lattice. The rhombohedral crystals have truncated tetrahedral crystal habits, and the degree of truncation defines the exposed facets and crystal shapes. Our surface capping strategy is to introduce DNA-modified nanospheres as effective capping agents, which selectively register on the surface vacancies of the kagome facets and resemble the role of organic ligands in classic nanocrystal growth. Such selective capping is driven by maximizing DNA hybridization and leads to slower growth of the (111) kagome facets, changing the crystal shape from three-dimensional truncated tetrahedra to two-dimensional layered microplates with structural heterogeneity and shape anisotropy. This study underpins the importance of capping agents in colloidal crystal growth and inspires effective ways to control the growth kinetics and heterostructures of colloidal crystals.
title Shape-controlled growth of two-dimensional kagome-lattice colloidal crystals through nanoparticle capping
topic Soft Condensed Matter
Materials Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.06630