title: Templating of self-alignment patterns of anisotropic gold nanoparticles on ordered SWNT macrostructures.
abstract: We report a simple and versatile technique for oriented assembly of gold nanorods on aligned single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) macrostructures, such as thin nanotube films and nanotube fibers. The deposition and assembly is accomplished via drop drying of dilute gold nanorod suspensions on SWNT macrostructures under ambient conditions. Guided by anisotropic interactions, gold nanorods, and polygonal platelets spontaneously align with SWNTs, resulting in macroscopic arrays of locally ordered nanorods supported on aligned SWNT substrates. SEM reveals that the scalar order parameter of rods relative to the local average SWNT alignment is 0.7 for rods on SWNT films and 0.9 for rods on SWNT fibers. This self-alignment is enabled by anisotropic gold nanoparticle-SWNT interactions and is observed for a wide range of nanoparticles, including nanorods with aspect ratios ranging from 2-35, thin gold triangular and other polygonal platelets. The plasmonic properties of aligned gold nanorods together with superior electronic, chemical and mechanical properties of SWNTs make these hybrid nanocomposites valuable for the design of self-assembled multifunctional optoelectronic materials and optical metamaterials.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rice University, 6100 Main Street, Houston, Texas 77005, United States.
authors.forename: Budhadipta
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dan
authors.forename: Tyler B
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Wingfield
authors.forename: Julian S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mirri
authors.forename: Cary L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Pint
authors.forename: Matteo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pasquali
authors.forename: Ivan I
authors.initials: II
authors.lastname: Smalyukh
mesh_terms: D000077286:Cetrimonium; D002593:Cetrimonium Compounds / Q000737:chemistry; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D050866:Liquid Crystals / Q000737:chemistry; D043942:Nanotubes / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure
chemical_list: D002593:Cetrimonium Compounds; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon; D006046:Gold; D000077286:Cetrimonium