title: Hydrogen Bonding Stabilized Self-Assembly of Inorganic Nanoparticles: Mechanism and Collective Properties.
abstract: Developing a simple and efficient method to organize nanoscale building blocks into ordered superstructures, understanding the mechanism for self-assembly and revealing the essential collective properties are crucial steps toward the practical use of nanostructures in nanotechnology-based applications. In this study, we showed that the high-yield formation of ZnO nanoparticle chains with micrometer length can be readily achieved by the variation of solvents from methanol to water. Spectroscopic studies confirmed the solvent effect on the surface properties of ZnO nanoparticles, which were found to be critical for the formation of anisotropic assemblies. Quantum mechanical calculations and all atom molecular dynamic simulations indicated the contribution of hydrogen bonding for stabilizing the structure in water. Dissipative particle dynamics further revealed the importance of solvent-nanoparticle interactions for promoting one-dimensional self-assembly. The branching of chains was found upon aging, resulting in the size increase of the ensembles and network formation. Steady-state and time-resolved luminescent spectroscopes, which probed the variation of defect-related emission, revealed stronger Forster resonance energy transfer (FRET) between nanoparticles when the chain networks were formed. The high efficiency of FRET quenching can be ascribed to the presence of multiple energy transfer channels, as well as the short internanoparticle distances and the dipole alignment.
authors.affiliation: †Key Laboratory of Microsystems and Micronanostructures Manufacturing, Harbin Institute of Technology, 2 Yikuang Street, Harbin 150080, PR China.
authors.forename: Mingli
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yue
authors.affiliation: ‡State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, Institute of Theoretical Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130023, PR China.
authors.forename: Yanchun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: †Key Laboratory of Microsystems and Micronanostructures Manufacturing, Harbin Institute of Technology, 2 Yikuang Street, Harbin 150080, PR China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.affiliation: §Center for Composite Materials and Structures, Harbin Institute of Technology, 2 Yikuang Street, Harbin 150080, PR China.
authors.forename: Wenxin
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: §Center for Composite Materials and Structures, Harbin Institute of Technology, 2 Yikuang Street, Harbin 150080, PR China.
authors.forename: Jiaqi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: §Center for Composite Materials and Structures, Harbin Institute of Technology, 2 Yikuang Street, Harbin 150080, PR China.
authors.forename: Jiecai
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: ‡State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, Institute of Theoretical Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130023, PR China.
authors.forename: Zhongyuan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: †Key Laboratory of Microsystems and Micronanostructures Manufacturing, Harbin Institute of Technology, 2 Yikuang Street, Harbin 150080, PR China.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yang
keywords: ZnO; anisotropic structure; chains; hydrogen bonding; molecular dynamics; nanoparticles; one-dimensional; self-assembly