TY - JOUR
T1 - Shapes and shape transformations of solution-phase metal particles in the sub-nanometer to nanometer size range
T2 - Progress and challenges
AU - Fichthorn, Kristen A.
AU - Yan, Tianyu
N1 - Funding Information:
This work is funded by the Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Science Division, Grant DEFG02-07ER46414.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 American Chemical Society.
PY - 2021/2/25
Y1 - 2021/2/25
N2 - Metal nanocrystals figure prominently in many current technologies, and they will play an important role in enabling a host of future applications. Since many of the beneficial properties of nanocrystals arise from their shape, achieving shape control is important yet still elusive in many instances. Shape control begins with seed crystals-nanometer- or sub-nanometersized particles that grow postnucleation and that may fluctuate through several shapes prior to achieving a set of shapes that act as templates for growth of the final nanocrystals. In this Perspective, we discuss experimental and theoretical progress in understanding the shapes of monometallic nanocrystal seeds. With the confluence of promising new applications, rapidly developing capabilities in electron microscopy in both vacuum and the liquid phase, and new theoretical developments in quantum and statistical mechanics, there are many exciting prospects for advancing this field. We delineate a few areas that are ripe for progress.
AB - Metal nanocrystals figure prominently in many current technologies, and they will play an important role in enabling a host of future applications. Since many of the beneficial properties of nanocrystals arise from their shape, achieving shape control is important yet still elusive in many instances. Shape control begins with seed crystals-nanometer- or sub-nanometersized particles that grow postnucleation and that may fluctuate through several shapes prior to achieving a set of shapes that act as templates for growth of the final nanocrystals. In this Perspective, we discuss experimental and theoretical progress in understanding the shapes of monometallic nanocrystal seeds. With the confluence of promising new applications, rapidly developing capabilities in electron microscopy in both vacuum and the liquid phase, and new theoretical developments in quantum and statistical mechanics, there are many exciting prospects for advancing this field. We delineate a few areas that are ripe for progress.
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U2 - 10.1021/acs.jpcc.0c10159
DO - 10.1021/acs.jpcc.0c10159
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85100256812
VL - 125
SP - 3668
EP - 3679
JO - Journal of Physical Chemistry C
JF - Journal of Physical Chemistry C
SN - 1932-7447
IS - 7
ER -