Structural Diversity in Dimension-Controlled Assemblies of Tetrahedral Gold Nanocrystals

Polyhedron packings have fascinated humans for centuries and continue to inspire scientists of modern disciplines. Despite extensive computer simulations and a handful of experimental investigations, understanding of the phase behaviors of synthetic tetrahedra has remained fragmentary largely due to the lack of tetrahedral building blocks with tunable size and versatile surface chemistry. Here, we report the remarkable richness of and complexity in dimension-controlled assemblies of gold nanotetrahedra. By tailoring nano crystal interactions from long-range repulsive to hard-particle-like or to systems with short-ranged directional attractions through control of surface ligands and assembly conditions, nearly a dozen of two-dimensional and three-dimensional superstructures including the cubic diamond and hexagonal diamond polymorphs are selectively assembled. We further demonstrate multiply twinned icosahedral supracrystals by drying aqueous gold nanotetrahedra on a hydrophobic substrate. This study expands the toolbox of the superstructure by design using tetrahedral building blocks and could spur future computational and experimental work on self-assembly and phase behavior of anisotropic colloidal particles with tunable interactions.

Automated summary

This study demonstrates the richness and complexity in dimension-controlled assemblies of gold nanotetrahedra, including the selective assembly of nearly a dozen two-dimensional and three-dimensional superstructures. Additionally, multiply twinned icosahedral supracrystals were achieved by drying aqueous gold nanotetrahedra on a hydrophobic substrate. This work expands the toolbox for designing superstructures using tetrahedral building blocks and could inspire future research on self-assembly and phase behavior of anisotropic colloidal particles.