title: Dynamic investigation of gold nanocrystal assembly using in situ grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering.
abstract: Here we investigate the dynamic self-assembly pathway of ordered gold nanocrystal arrays during the self-assembly of gold nanocrystal micelles, with and without the presence of colloidal silica precursors, using grazing-incidence X-ray scattering performed at a synchrotron source. With silica precursors present, a lattice with rhombohedral symmetry is formed from the partial collapse of a face-centered cubic structure. In the absence of silica, a transient body-centered orthorhombic phase appears, which rapidly collapses into a glassy nanocrystal film. The appearance of face-centered and body-centered structures is consistent with a phase diagram for charged colloidal particles with assembly modulated via Coulomb screening.
authors.affiliation: Chemical and Nuclear Engineering Department, The University of New Mexico/NSF Center for Micro-Engineered Materials, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, USA.
authors.forename: Darren
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dunphy
authors.forename: Hongyou
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Xuefa
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: C Jeffrey
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Brinker