Distinct reactivities on segmented selenium nanorods.

We demonstrate a new approach to synthesize several unique nanostructures by tuning the selective reactivities on individual symmetry-breaking segmented selenium nanorods (SBS-SeNRs). The segment-selective reactions from thiolated silane endowed the formation of float-like SBS-SeNR@SiO2 with a silica coating on the t-Se segment. Several other unique nanostructures were further synthesized by applying other selective reactions, such as Se chemical removal and nanogold deposition. Such a segmented nanomaterial of SBS-SeNRs acts as a new chemical template for preparing various segmented nanocomposites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]