Spontaneous formation of ordered 3D super-lattices of nanocrystals from polydisperse colloidal solutions

Article abstract of DOI:10.1002/anie.200250484

Order from disorder: Highly ordered nanocrystal super-lattices accommodating identical tin particles spontaneously crystallize from a dispersion displaying no order. Two structure types were identified, a noncompact one displaying uniform orientations of the particles atomic planes, and an unprecedented one containing monodisperse larger and more anisotropic particles (see electron micrographs). Which structure is formed depends on the reaction conditions used.

Full text of DOI:10.1002/anie.200250484

Angewandte
Chemie
Tin Superstructures
Spontaneous Formation of Ordered 3D Super-
lattices of Nanocrystals from Polydisperse
Colloidal Solutions**
Katerina Soulantica, AndrØ Maisonnat, Marie-
Claire Fromen, Marie-JosØ Casanove, and
Bruno Chaudret*
The synthesis and ordering of nanocrystals into nanocrystal
superlattices (NCSs) is timely and of prime importance for
[
1]
applications involving physical properties. The formation of
NCSs requires the presence of ligands for controlling the size,
[
2,3]
shape,and monodispersity of the particles
their self-assembly. This process generally results from the
and for favoring
[
4,5]
evaporation of solvent from a solution of the nanoparticles
or precipitation of particles by the addition of a non-
It requires strictly monodisperse nanocrystals
that result from specific synthetic routes or tedious size-
[
6,7]
solvent.
[
8]
[
2,5–7]
selection processes.
Considerable effort has recently been
devoted to the formation of crystalline superlattices of
[
4,5b,8d,9,10]
[1d,7]
[8a–c,11,12]
metals,
metal alloys,
metal oxides,
sul-
[
5]
[6]
fides, and semiconductors. The superlattices that have
been characterized generally adopt a compact fcc or hcp
structure.
[
4–7,10–13]
A few examples of NCSs display orienta-
[
4,10]
tional order between the nanocrystals.
Molecular dynamic
[*] Dr. B. Chaudret, Dr. K. Soulantica, Dr. A. Maisonnat
Laboratoire de Chimie de Coordination du CNRS
205, route de Narbonne, 31077 Toulouse (France)
Fax: (+33)5-6155-3003
E-mail: chaudret@lcc-toulouse.fr
M.-C. Fromen, Dr. M.-J. Casanove
Centre d'Elaboration des MatØriaux et
d'Etudes Structurales du CNRS
29, rue Jeanne Marvig BP 4347, 31055 Toulouse (France)
[
**] The authors thank the CNRS and EC (through TMR netwok
CLUPOS) for support. We express our gratitude to Professors. Pablo
Espinet and John Bradley for fruitful discussions, Dr. F. Senocq for
XRD measurements, and M. Vincent Colli›re, Lucien Datas, and the
TEMSCAN service for TEM studies.
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2003, 42, 1945 – 1949
DOI: 10.1002/anie.200250484
ꢀ 2003 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
1945

Communications
simulations have,however,predicted that monodisperse
nanocrystals stabilized by long-chain ligands could crystallize
into noncompact superstructures in which the crystallo-
graphic axes of the individual nanocrystals would be
a
[
14]
aligned.
Structures of this type have been detected but
remain very rare.[
15]
We have previously shown that a range of ligands,from
water to long-chain amines,are able to control the growth of
nanoparticles that are prepared by decomposition of an
organometallic precursor,and even to allow self-assembly of
[
16]
monodisperse particles into 2D and 3D superstructures.
However,recent results [1d,17,18] emphasize the importance of
the presence of two types of ligands/surfactants for achieving
simultaneously the control of monodispersity,self-assembly,
and,in some cases,the shape of the particles. In these cases,
however,a reaction between the different ligands may
proceed under the reaction conditions,which renders the
rationalization of the observations difficult. We report here an
alternative system based on the association of an acid with its
conjugated base,namely an ammonium/amine system,which
should produce a less or nonevolutive reaction medium. This
system leads to the spontaneous formation of 3D super-
lattices containing monodisperse tin nanocrystals exhibiting
translational and orientational order. These NCSs are grown
directly from a solution containing polydisperse tin particles.
b
[
19]
c
d
UV irradiation (365 nm) of [{Sn(NMe ) } ] in toluene at
2
2 2
room temperature in the absence of stirring and in the
presence of one equivalent of hexadecylamine (HDA) leads
to the formation of large square-shaped particles which
display a broad size distribution centred near 50 nm (TEM
analysis). They are isolated or agglomerated,but without any
sign of order,and consist of pure tetragonal tin (XRD
evidence). A spectacular change is observed in the reaction
products when the same reaction conditions is used,but with a
mixture of HDA and its HCl adduct (HDA·HCl) at various
relative concentrations in place of pure HDA. Different types
of superstructures are produced which may coexist in the
same preparation (Figure 1): 1) three-dimensional crystalline
networks (nanocrystal superlattices (NCS 1)) consisting of
monodisperse tin particles with dimensions of about 18 ”
Figure 1. Different objects present in the colloidal solution. a) NCS 1
network (scale bar: 100 nm). Inset: higher magnification (scale bar:
20nm); b) NCS 2 network (scale bar: 100 nm); c) unorganized
1
5 nm (Figure 1a); 2) a second type of crystalline arrange-
material outside the NCSs (scale bar: 50nm); d) general view of the
ment (NCS 2) accommodating monodisperse larger and more
anisotropic particles (Figure 1b); 3) particles showing some
size polydispersity which appear either isolated,assembled
into disordered superstructures,or,in some cases,assembled
into monolayers displaying a mosaic-like pattern (Figure 1c).
sample (scale bar: 1 mm).
are oriented in nearly the same direction (Figure 2b). A slight
misalignment,which never exceeds 15 8,is observed in
HRTEM images and revealed by a Fourier Transform
diffractogram of the image,as well as by the high-angle
electron diffraction spots of the tin network measured on one
NCS (Figure 2c). This observation demonstrates that the
NCSs are characterized not only by a translational but also by
an orientational symmetry. The structure of the superlattice is
not compact,but probably monoclinic ( a = 15.6, b = 16 nm;
a = b = 90, g = 778),although the presence of some lattice
distortion in the thinner areas prevents a full identification
(Figure 2a).
[
16]
In contrast to recent results obtained with indium,
the
thickness of the NCSs on the microscopy grids,the poly-
dispersity of the particles in solution,and the absence of
monolayers suggest that self-organization of the nanocrystals
does not occur on the microscopy grid. The structure of the
NCSs has been studied by HREM and electron diffraction at
different tilting angles of the support. From a morphological
viewpoint,the network NCS 1 appears as a single super-
crystal of particles with at least two well-defined edges. The
Sn particles are all identical in size and morphology and
display a slightly elongated shape (aspect ratio ca. 1.2:1,long
axis: 18 nm,short axis: 15 nm,interparticle distance:
ca. 3 nm). They display the tetragonal structure of Sn and
The second superstructure,NCS 2,displays a surprisingly
complex pattern (Figure 3). The individual particles display
an elongated shape (25 nm long and aspect ratio ca. 1.6:1).
1
946
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Chemie
a
a
b
b
c
Sn[011]
Figure 3. NCS 2 network. a) Superlattice of “crosses” where the super-
cell unit is indicated in the white box (scale bar: 50nm); b) another
view of a NCS 2. The different angle allows another pattern to appear
2
11
200
211
0
11
(scale bar: 50nm).
The smaller recognizable pattern in the thin regions is a
cruciform arrangement of four particles surrounding a single
smaller particle that is,in our opinion,an identical particle
oriented perpendicular to the other four. These crosses are
organized into rows with their axes alternately rotated by a
small positive or negative angle from the mean direction of
the super-lattice. The projected supercell unit is larger than
one cross and is depicted in Figure 3a. Different orientations
demonstrate the complexity of the structure,which is not
consistent with the presence of simple lattices (such as fcc,
hcp,and bcc). To the best of our knowledge this is the first
example of such an elaborate structure of NCS. Up to now
only regular “side-by-side” arrangements of nanoparticles
have been encountered.
Figure 2. NCS 1 network. a) View of a faceted superlattice. Some
disordered material may be observed next to the crystal (scale bar:
1
00 nm); b) HREM image illustrating the alignment of the atomic
planes of individual particles (scale bar: 5 nm); c) electron diffraction
image of a part of NCS 1 network showing the tin b structure and
demonstrating the crystallographic alignment of the particles with a
maximum deviation of 158.
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Communications
This complicated process involves both a crystallization
preparation of the starting solutions. The solvents used were distilled
under sodium and degassed through three freeze-pump-thaw cycles.
The long-chain amines were purchased from Fluka. The hydrochloric
salts were prepared by addition of an excess of a 2m solution of HCl in
diethyl ether to a solution of the corresponding amine in toluene. The
precipitate which formed immediately was stirred for 2 h,then
washed with toluene. Complete evaporation of the solvent gave the
hydrochloride salt.
and a size adjustment of the particles. We studied the
influence of several reaction parameters to gain some knowl-
edge of the formation of these objects. We found that the
[
20]
concentration of the reagents,the use of [{Sn(NMe )Cl} ] as
2
2
the chloride source,the addition of free HNMe ,the nature of
2
the solvent and the presence of water in it,as well as the
reaction time are some of the parameters that determine the
outcome of the crystallization. Conditions have thus been
identified which favor the production of NCS 1 almost
exclusively,and other conditions where both NCSs were
produced (see Experimental Section). We also found that the
formation of NCSs does not proceed in THF or if the toluene
reaction solution is stirred. In the latter case,a high degree of
size polydispersity and almost no organization are observed.
Finally,the reaction and organization proceed using dodecyl-
amine (DDA) in place of HDA and with similar constraints
on concentration,but not when octylamine was used.
[{Sn(NMe
)Cl} ] was prepared in a similar way to [{Sn(NMe ) } ]
2
2
2
2
2
but by adding only one equivalent of LiNMe2 to SnCl ,and was
2
isolated by sublimation at 1108C. The product was characterized by
1
X-ray crystal-structure analysis (not reported here); H NMR: d =
3
2
.32 ppm ( J
= 26.7 Hz).
Sn-H
Typical procedures leading to NCS 1:
A
solution of
[{Sn(NMe ) } ] (51.7 mg,0.250 mmol of Sn) in freshly distilled and
2
2 2
degassed toluene (the distilled toluene contains about 50 ppm of
H O) was added to a suspension of a mixture of HDA·HCl (26.1 mg,
2
0.094 mmol) and HDA (8.5 mg,0.035 mmol) in the same solvent. The
total volume was adjusted to 5.5 mL. Alternatively,a mixture of
[
{Sn(NMe ) } ]/[{Sn(NMe )Cl} ]
(36.7 mg,0.177 mmol/14.5 mg,
2
2
2
2
2
0.073 mmol) could be used. In this case HDA was the only amine
A rational for these observations can be proposed. In the
absence of stirring,a gradient of metal and ligand concen-
trations may form between the layers directly exposed to UV
light and the inner parts of the solution,thus accounting for
the presence of particles of different sizes and shapes in the
reaction mixture. The particles formed may also fluctuate in
used and the two Sn precursors left to react for a few minutes before
adding the reaction mixture to HDA (30.2 mg,0.125 mmol). The total
amount of toluene used ws 5.5 mL. Monitoring of the reaction
1
between [{SnCl(NMe ) ] and [{Sn(NMe ) } ] by H NMR spectro-
2
2
2 2 2
scopy showed that a tin complex identified as [{Sn Cl(NMe ) }] is
2
2 3
formed. The latter complex was detected as one of the products of the
reaction of HDA·HCl with [{SnCl(NMe )} ]. In both cases,the
2
2
[
21]
size and shape in solution as previously observed. Some
particles of a given size and ligand environment may self-
assemble into NCSs in solution as a result of size-dependent,
attractive interparticle forces.[ While growing,the resulting
NCSs will precipitate in toluene but may continue to
incorporate adequate particles present in the liquid phase.
The continuous formation of particles of size appropriate for
inclusion into the growing NCS results from size re-equili-
bration in solution. It is noteworthy that this process does not
operate in a polar solvent,such as THF,which may firmly
bind to the tin surface and hence may prevent re-equilibra-
tion. The presence of two types of networks results from the
necessity to accommodate particles of different shapes and
may be related to the concentration of chloride ions.
resulting clear yellow solution was stirred and then left standing for
h before exposure to UV light for 30 h and 46 h,respectively,
1
without stirring. The whole cell was then transferred into the glove-
box and a drop of the crude suspension obtained after removing the
majority of the clear yellow supernatant was placed on a TEM grid
and dried. The product for XRD measurements was isolated by
simple removal of the supernatant solution and drying. All efforts to
wash the powder resulted in loss of organization.
22]
Typical procedure leading to NCS 1 and NSC 2: The same general
procedure was used starting from a mixture of [{SnCl(NMe )} ]
2
2
(7.9 mg,0.040 mmol in Sn) and [{Sn(NMe ) } ] (42.5 mg,0.210 mmol
2 2 2
in Sn). The two compounds were reacted for 30 min in toluene (3 mL)
and then a solution of HDA (30.2 mg,0.125 mmol) in toluene
(2.5 mL) was added. The clear yellow solution was left without
stirring under UV light for 48 h and characterized as described above.
In conclusion,we have reported the synthesis of identical
tin nanoparticles included into tin superstructures of micron
sizes. The particles display uniform size and crystallographic
orientation. The noncompact nature of the superlattices
points towards a crystallization of both the particles and
their ligand shells,as for molecular species. The formation of
the NCSs results from 1) fractional crystallization in solution,
a long-known process that enables the spontaneous size
selection of particles,and 2) size fluctuation that affords new
particles to be incorporated into the NCSs. This in turn allows
the control in one step of the shape,monodispersity,and
ligand environment of the particles. This complex process has,
to the best of our knowledge,no precedent. Further work,
currently in progress,will be necessary to elucidate the
mechanism of growth of these NCSs and the generality of this
approach.
Received: November 6,2002 [Z50484]
Keywords: colloidal crystals · crystal growth · nanostructures ·
.
self-assembly · tin
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