title: Alignment of colloidal graphene quantum dots on polar surfaces.
abstract: Controlling the orientation of nanostructures with anisotropic shapes is essential for taking advantage of their anisotropic electrical, optical, and transport properties in electro-optical devices. For large-area alignment of nanocrystals, so far orientations are mostly induced and controlled by external physical parameters, such as applied fields or changes in concentration. Herein we report on assemblies of colloidal graphene quantum dots, a new type of disk-shaped nanostructures, on polar surfaces and the control of their orientations. We show that the orientations of the graphene quantum dots can be determined, either in- or out-of-plane with the substrate, by chemical functionalization that introduces orientation-dependent interactions between the quantum dots and the surfaces.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Indiana University, Bloomington Indiana 47405, United States.
authors.forename: Irma P
authors.initials: IP
authors.lastname: Hamilton
authors.forename: Binsong
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Liang-Shi
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D006108:Graphite / Q000737:chemistry*; D008422:Materials Testing; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D010316:Particle Size; D045663:Quantum Dots; D055672:Static Electricity
chemical_list: D006108:Graphite