title: Self-assembled zinc/copper hydroxide carbonates with tunable hierarchical nanostructure.
abstract: Here, we report a synthetic, polymer-mediated method for the self-assembly of zinc/copper hydroxide carbonate superstructures including 3D hierarchical sunflower-like, urchin-like, alga-like, and rotiform-like zinc hydroxide carbonate (ZHC) microstructures, and hierarchical copper hydroxide carbonate (CHC) microspheres with radiating nanoplates and nanorods. As a capping agent, poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) was found to play an important role in directing the growth and self-assembly of such unique structures. The crystal structure of the products and the resulting hierarchical superstructure morphology, as controlled by the molecular weight and concentration of PVP, were systematically investigated. A possible growth mechanism for the formation of hierarchical superstructures with different morphologies is also proposed.
authors: Department of Physics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Hogskoleringen 5, 7491 Trondheim, Norway.
authors: Min
authors: M
authors: Zhou
authors: Ye
authors: Y
authors: Hu
authors: Mauro
authors: M
authors: Ferrari
authors: Zhaohui
authors: Z
authors: Xie