Spontaneous superlattice formation in nanorods through partial cation exchange

Lattice-mismatch strains are widely known to control nanoscale pattern formation in heteroepitaxy, but such effects have not been exploited in colloidal nanocrystal growth. We demonstrate a colloidal route to synthesizing CdS-Ag2S nanorod superlattices through partial cation exchange. Strain induces the spontaneous formation of periodic structures. Ab initio calculations of the interfacial energy and modeling of strain energies show that these forces drive the self-organization of the superlattices. The nanorod superlattices exhibit high stability against ripening and phase mixing. These materials are tunable near-infrared emitters with potential applications as nanometer-scale optoelectronic devices.