title: Bonding pathways of gold nanocrystals in solution.
abstract: Nanocrystal bonding is an important phenomenon in crystal growth and nanoscale welding. Here, we show that for gold nanocrystals bonding in solution can follow two distinct pathways: (1) coherent, defect-free bonding occurs when two nanocrystals attach with their lattices aligned to within a critical angle; and (2) beyond this critical angle, defects form at the interfaces where the nanocrystals merge. The critical misalignment angle for ∼10 nm crystals is ∼15° in both in situ experiments and full-atom molecular dynamics simulations. Understanding the origin of this critical angle during bonding may help us predict and manage strain profiles in nanoscale assemblies and inspire techniques toward reproducible and extensible architectures using only basic crystalline blocks.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, National University of Singapore , 2 Science Drive 3, Singapore , 117551.
authors.forename: Zainul
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Aabdin
authors.forename: Jingyu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Xi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Utkarsh
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Anand
authors.forename: N Duane
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Loh
authors.forename: Haibin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: Utkur
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Mirsaidov
keywords: Crystal bonding; crystal defects; in situ TEM; nanocrystals; nanoparticles