以色列魏茨曼科学研究所Klajn Rafal团队利用带相反电荷的小分子将纳米粒子静电共组装成静态和动态超结构。相关研究成果发表在2021年9月6日出版的《自然—化学》。

库仑相互作用可用于将带电纳米颗粒组装成高阶结构，但该过程需要大小相似的带相反电荷的分子。利用结构简单的小分子介导此类带电纳米颗粒组装的能力将极大地促进纳米结构材料的制造，并利用其在催化、传感和光子学中的应用。

该文中，研究人员表明，只有三个电荷的小分子可以有效地诱导水中带相反电荷的纳米颗粒之间的吸引相互作用。该相互作用可以引导带电纳米颗粒组装成胶体晶体，该胶体晶体的质量以前只被认为是由它们与大小相似的带相反电荷的纳米颗粒共同结晶而产生的。利用带正电的纳米颗粒和经酶水解成单离子和/或双离子的多电荷阴离子，可以生成瞬时纳米颗粒组装体。

该研究发现证明了一种在水环境中容易制备、操纵和进一步研究静态和动态纳米结构材料的方法。

附：英文原文

Title: Electrostatic co-assembly of nanoparticles with oppositely charged small molecules into static and dynamic superstructures

Author: Bian, Tong, Gardin, Andrea, Gemen, Julius, Houben, Lothar, Perego, Claudio, Lee, Byeongdu, Elad, Nadav, Chu, Zonglin, Pavan, Giovanni M., Klajn, Rafal

Issue&Volume: 2021-09-06

Abstract: Coulombic interactions can be used to assemble charged nanoparticles into higher-order structures, but the process requires oppositely charged partners that are similarly sized. The ability to mediate the assembly of such charged nanoparticles using structurally simple small molecules would greatly facilitate the fabrication of nanostructured materials and harnessing their applications in catalysis, sensing and photonics. Here we show that small molecules with as few as three electric charges can effectively induce attractive interactions between oppositely charged nanoparticles in water. These interactions can guide the assembly of charged nanoparticles into colloidal crystals of a quality previously only thought to result from their co-crystallization with oppositely charged nanoparticles of a similar size. Transient nanoparticle assemblies can be generated using positively charged nanoparticles and multiply charged anions that are enzymatically hydrolysed into mono- and/or dianions. Our findings demonstrate an approach for the facile fabrication, manipulation and further investigation of static and dynamic nanostructured materials in aqueous environments.

DOI: 10.1038/s41557-021-00752-9

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41557-021-00752-9