Predicting Chiral Nanostructures,Lattices and Superlatticesin Complex Multicomponent Nanoparticle Self-Assembly.

“Bottom up” type nanoparticle (NP) self-assemblyis expected to provide facile routes to nanostructured materials forvarious, for example, energy related, applications. Despite progressin simulations and theories, structure prediction of self-assembledmaterials beyond simple model systems remains challenging. Here weutilize a field theory approach for predicting nanostructure of complexand multicomponent hybrid systems with multiple types of short- andlong-range interactions. We propose design criteria for controllinga range of NP based nanomaterial structures. In good agreement withrecent experiments, the theory predicts that ABC triblock terpolymerdirected assemblies with ligand-stabilized NPs can lead to chiralNP network structures. Furthermore, we predict that long-range Coulombinteractions between NPs leading to simple NP lattices, when appliedto NP/block copolymer (BCP) assemblies, induce NP superlattice formationwithin the phase separated BCP nanostructure, a strategy not yet realizedexperimentally. We expect such superlattices to be of increasing interestto communities involved in research on, for example, energy generationand storage, metamaterials, as well as microelectronics and informationstorage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]