Hierarchical Multicomponent Nanoheterostructures via Facet-to-Facet Attachment of Anisotropic Semiconductor Nanoparticles

Abstract

As performance and functionality requirements for solution-processed nanomaterials become more stringent and demanding, there is an ever-growing need for hierarchical nanostructures with sophisticated architecture and complex composition. However, the production of structurally complex nanomaterials is often not possible by direct synthesis. In this work, we describe synthetic methodology to covalently link presynthesized anisotropic semiconductor nanoparticles of different composition in a stoichiometrically controlled manner via specific facet sites at room temperature. We demonstrate that CdSe nanorods can be cojoined with CdTe tetrapods via a competitive cation-exchange process with Ag+ that results in linking between the tips of the tetrapod arms with only one end of each nanorod via a Ag2Se–Ag2Te interface. This selective linking was engineered by having a large fraction of CdSe nanorods present in the reaction, which sterically hindered homolinking between Ag2Se-tipped CdSe nanorods and Ag2Te-tippe...