Growth Mechanism Deconvolution of Self-Limiting Supraparticles Based on Microfluidic System
writer：Qiang Fu, Yuping Sheng, Hongjie Tang, Zhening Zhu, Mingbo Ruan,Weilin Xu,* Yutian Zhu,* Zhiyong Tang
keywords：supraparticle . Au . growth mechanism . microfluidics . Monte Carlo simulation
source：期刊
specific source：ACS Nano
Issue time：2015年
The synthesis of colloidal supraparticles (SPs) based on self-assembly of
nanoscopic objects has attracted much attention in recent years. Here, we demonstrate
the formation of self-limiting monodisperse gold SPs with coreshell morphology based
on the building blocks of flexible nanoarms in one step. A flow-based microfluidic chip is
utilized to slow down the assembly process of the intermediates, which surprisingly
allows for observation of ultrathin gold nanoplates as first intermediates. Notably, these
intermediate cannot be observed in traditional synthesis due to their rapid rolling-up to
form the second-order nanostructure of flexible hollow nanoarms. The growth mechanism
of SPs can then be deconvoluted into two seed-mediated steps. Monte Carlo
simulations confirm that the self-limiting growth of binary SPs is governed by a balance between electrostatic repulsion and van der Waals attraction.