title: Self-assembled colloidal superparticles from nanorods.
abstract: Colloidal superparticles are nanoparticle assemblies in the form of colloidal particles. The assembly of nanoscopic objects into mesoscopic or macroscopic complex architectures allows bottom-up fabrication of functional materials. We report that the self-assembly of cadmium selenide-cadmium sulfide (CdSe-CdS) core-shell semiconductor nanorods, mediated by shape and structural anisotropy, produces mesoscopic colloidal superparticles having multiple well-defined supercrystalline domains. Moreover, functionality-based anisotropic interactions between these CdSe-CdS nanorods can be kinetically introduced during the self-assembly and, in turn, yield single-domain, needle-like superparticles with parallel alignment of constituent nanorods. Unidirectional patterning of these mesoscopic needle-like superparticles gives rise to the lateral alignment of CdSe-CdS nanorods into macroscopic, uniform, freestanding polymer films that exhibit strong photoluminescence with a striking anisotropy, enabling their use as downconversion phosphors to create polarized light-emitting diodes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA.
authors.forename: Tie
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jiaqi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhuang
authors.forename: Jared
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lynch
authors.forename: Ou
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Zhongliang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xirui
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Derek
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: LaMontagne
authors.forename: Huimeng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Zhongwu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Y Charles
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Cao