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Nano Research 2023, 16(1): 1448-1458 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4651-5
Research Article | Issue | Published: 10 August 2022

Cross-scale modulation for aqueous fabrication of monodisperse Cu2−xE (E = S, Se, Te) nanocrystals and supraparticles

Show Author's Information Hui Zhu,  Ge Guo,  Yunsheng Xia( )
Key Laboratory of Functional Molecular Solids, Ministry of Education College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu 241000, China
Keywords:
photoacoustic imaging, monodisperse, aqueous fabrication, Cu2−xE nanocrystals, Cu2−xE supraparticles
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Nanocrystals
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Zhu H, Guo G, Xia Y. Cross-scale modulation for aqueous fabrication of monodisperse Cu2−xE (E = S, Se, Te) nanocrystals and supraparticles. Nano Research, 2023, 16(1): 1448-1458. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4651-5
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Exploring aqueous nano-fabrication with monodisperse and hierarchical characteristics is fundamentally and technically significant. Herein, we discover that inter-particle nano–nano scale interactions profoundly affect the products’ morphology ranging from polydisperse → monodisperse to individual → hierarchical manipulation. Accordingly, we present a “nucleation-growth-dispersion triple modulation” strategy for fabricating monodisperse Cu2−xE (E = S, Se, Te) nanocrystals (NCs) and supraparticles (SPs). Such full-process and cross-scale control is conducted by two rationally selected ligands (cysteine and citrate molecules), which are responsible for atom/molecule–nano and nano–nano interaction modulations, respectively. Cysteine reacts with the cations and forms low reactive (cysteine-Cu+)n coordination polymers, which overcomes the commonly concerned nucleation and particle growth induced polydispersity. Citrate, by virtue of its strong negative charge modulated NC–NC interactions, decides the products morphology from polydisperse products to monodisperse NCs to monodisperse hierarchical SPs. These findings not only present new insights into aqueous nano-synthesis chemistry but provide an eco-friendly system for versatile and high-quality nano-entity fabrication.


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Electronic supplementary material
About this article

Cross-scale modulation for aqueous fabrication of monodisperse Cu2−xE (E = S, Se, Te) nanocrystals and supraparticles

Show Author's information Hui Zhu, Ge Guo, Yunsheng Xia( )
Key Laboratory of Functional Molecular Solids, Ministry of Education College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu 241000, China

Abstract

Exploring aqueous nano-fabrication with monodisperse and hierarchical characteristics is fundamentally and technically significant. Herein, we discover that inter-particle nano–nano scale interactions profoundly affect the products’ morphology ranging from polydisperse → monodisperse to individual → hierarchical manipulation. Accordingly, we present a “nucleation-growth-dispersion triple modulation” strategy for fabricating monodisperse Cu2−xE (E = S, Se, Te) nanocrystals (NCs) and supraparticles (SPs). Such full-process and cross-scale control is conducted by two rationally selected ligands (cysteine and citrate molecules), which are responsible for atom/molecule–nano and nano–nano interaction modulations, respectively. Cysteine reacts with the cations and forms low reactive (cysteine-Cu+)n coordination polymers, which overcomes the commonly concerned nucleation and particle growth induced polydispersity. Citrate, by virtue of its strong negative charge modulated NC–NC interactions, decides the products morphology from polydisperse products to monodisperse NCs to monodisperse hierarchical SPs. These findings not only present new insights into aqueous nano-synthesis chemistry but provide an eco-friendly system for versatile and high-quality nano-entity fabrication.

Keywords: photoacoustic imaging, monodisperse, aqueous fabrication, Cu2−xE nanocrystals, Cu2−xE supraparticles

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Publication history
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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 02 April 2022
Revised: 25 May 2022
Accepted: 11 June 2022
Published: 10 August 2022
Issue date: January 2023

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© Tsinghua University Press 2022

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21775004) and Wanjiang Scholar program.

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