Ligand-directed assembly of preformed titania nanocrystals into highly anisotropic nanostructures

Highly anisotropic TiO2 nanostructures (see Figure) of several hundreds of nanometers in length were obtained by oriented assembly of preformed TiO2 nanoparticles with typical diameters of 5 nm. The assembly is directed by a particularly small amount of a polydentate ligand with a low molecular weight, which binds selectively to specific crystal faces of the titania nanoparticles.