Growth Mechanism of Ag Nanocrystal Supercrystals

Of recent interest in the science of nano-scale materials is the production and characterization of substances composed of ordered lattices of up to millions of identical nanometer scale particles. Silver nanocrystals of ∼4.5 nm diameter passivated with dodecanthiol surfactant were produced in the aerosol phase. Characterization of the individual particles and the subsequent supercrystals (SXs) resulting from their periodic packing was brought about using Mass Spectrometry, Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM)/Electron Diffraction (ED), Scanning Electron Microscopy and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). It was determined that the micrometer and greater sized faceted SXs exhibited an hexagonal-close-packed (HCP) superstructure (fig.l) resulting in triangular shapes bounded by 1100 facets (fig. la); their platlet-like nature (∼20 nanocrystal layers thick) owing to their particular growth pattern. Knowledge of the growth mechanism is important to production of these materials on a macroscopic scale. Here we report a proposed growth model for these supercrystals.