Argonne National Laboratory

Research Highlight | Center for Nanoscale Materials

Tune in to tetrahedral superstructures
In a recent study published in Nature, researchers from Argonne’s CNM working with Brown University have packed non-spherical nanocrystals into complex superstructures – including some with chirality.
Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) image of tetrahedral quantum dots (TTQD): (a) the building blocks of the complex structures; (b) High-resolution (HR)-TEM image (top) of an individual TTQD; (c) High-angle annular dark-field imaging (HAADF)-TEM images of TTQDs.

Scientific Achievement

Using self-assembly methods we produced and, for the first time, observed single-component tetrahedral building blocks in three distinct complex superstructures, including a one-dimensional chiral tetrahelix.

Scientific Achievement

Using self-assembly methods we produced and, for the first time, observed single-component tetrahedral building blocks in three distinct complex superstructures, including a one-dimensional chiral tetrahelix.

Significance and Impact

The observations expand the collection of super-structures that can use tetrahedral building blocks; the findings bring the spontaneous formation of nanocrystal assemblies to a higher level of complexity, including chirality in some cases.

Research Details

  • Truncated tetrahedral quantum dots in solution self-assembled into one, two, and three dimensions with one common structural feature:  preferred facet-to-facet alignment.
  • Scanning TEM (STEM) and STEM-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) mapping were performed at the Center for Nanoscale Materials.

DOI: doi​.org/​1​0​.​1​0​3​8​/​s​4​1​5​8​6​-​0​1​8​-​0​512-5

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This work was performed in part at the Center for Nanoscale Materials.

About Argonne’s Center for Nanoscale Materials
The Center for Nanoscale Materials is one of the five DOE Nanoscale Science Research Centers, premier national user facilities for interdisciplinary research at the nanoscale supported by the DOE Office of Science. Together the NSRCs comprise a suite of complementary facilities that provide researchers with state-of-the-art capabilities to fabricate, process, characterize and model nanoscale materials, and constitute the largest infrastructure investment of the National Nanotechnology Initiative. The NSRCs are located at DOE’s Argonne, Brookhaven, Lawrence Berkeley, Oak Ridge, Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories. For more information about the DOE NSRCs, please visit https://​sci​ence​.osti​.gov/​U​s​e​r​-​F​a​c​i​l​i​t​i​e​s​/​U​s​e​r​-​F​a​c​i​l​i​t​i​e​s​-​a​t​-​a​-​G​lance.

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