Spontaneous chiral self-assembly of CdSe@CdS nanorods

The enantiomeric excess phenomenon in spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking (SCSB) is a crucial issue in the origin of homochirality in nature, whereas chiral inorganic compounds have long been reckoned as racemates. Here, we report the SCSB in the self-assembly of cadmium chalcogenide nanorods, leading to chiral biases away from the racemate. In the presence of achiral organics, helical CdSe@CdS nanorods (HCCNs) with unidirectionally rotated crystal lattices along the rod axis were stochastically formed on the epitaxial interface of the {111}cub/{0001} hex planes. The stability of helical dislocation structures, as supported by a theoretical analysis of their binding energies, suggested the possibility of the emergence of helical structures in an achiral environment. Hierarchical chiral films induced by simple solvent evaporation self-assembly of HCCNs exhibited spontaneous enantiomeric excess between batches, which was speculated to be originated from the enantiomeric excess seed assembly that induce one-handedness dominated system based on the majority rules.

Automated summary

This study reports the phenomenon of spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking in the self-assembly of cadmium chalcogenide nanorods, resulting in chiral biases away from racemates. The presence of stable helical dislocation structures suggests the possibility of helical structures emerging in an achiral environment, leading to hierarchical chiral films induced by simple solvent evaporation self-assembly of HCCNs. The spontaneous enantiomeric excess between batches is speculated to originate from enantiomeric excess seed assembly inducing a one-handedness dominated system based on the majority rules.