4.8 Article

Exploring the 3D structure and defects of a self-assembled gold mesocrystal by coherent X-ray diffraction imaging

Journal

NANOSCALE
Volume 13, Issue 23, Pages 10425-10435

Publisher

ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY
DOI: 10.1039/d1nr01806j

Keywords

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Funding

  1. Helmholtz Associations Initiative Networking Fund [HRSF-0002]
  2. Russian Science Foundation [18-41-06001]
  3. DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) [SFB 1214]
  4. European Research Council (ERC) under the Horizon 2020 research and innovation program of the European Union [715620]
  5. Competitiveness Enhancement Program Grant of Tomsk Polytechnic University
  6. Governmental program Science project [FSWW-2020-0014]
  7. Zukunftskolleg at the University of Konstanz
  8. Konstanzia Transition program of Equal Opportunity Council

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Mesocrystals are nanostructured materials made up of nanocrystals with a preferred crystallographic orientation. Structural heterogeneity greatly affects their properties, as shown in the detailed structural characterization of a faceted mesocrystal grain made from 60 nm gold nanocubes. Coherent X-ray diffraction imaging revealed intrinsic structural heterogeneity and internal defects, with the average superlattice structure closely matching the real multidomain structure.
Mesocrystals are nanostructured materials consisting of individual nanocrystals having a preferred crystallographic orientation. On mesoscopic length scales, the properties of mesocrystals are strongly affected by structural heterogeneity. Here, we report the detailed structural characterization of a faceted mesocrystal grain self-assembled from 60 nm sized gold nanocubes. Using coherent X-ray diffraction imaging, we determined the structure of the mesocrystal with the resolution sufficient to resolve each gold nanoparticle. The reconstructed electron density of the gold mesocrystal reveals its intrinsic structural heterogeneity, including local deviations of lattice parameters, and the presence of internal defects. The strain distribution shows that the average superlattice obtained by angular X-ray cross-correlation analysis and the real, multidomain structure of a mesocrystal are very close to each other, with a deviation less than 10%. These results will provide an important impact to understanding the fundamental principles of structuring and self-assembly including ensuing properties of mesocrystals.

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