title: Self-Assembly of Nanoclusters into Mono-, Few-, and Multilayered Sheets via Dipole-Induced Asymmetric van der Waals Attraction.
abstract: Two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials possessing regular layered structures and versatile chemical composition are highly expected in many applications. Despite the importance of van der Waals (vdW) attraction in constructing and maintaining layered structures, the origin of 2D anisotropy is not fully understood, yet. Here, we report the 2D self-assembly of ligand-capped Au15 nanoclusters into mono-, few-, and multilayered sheets in colloidal solution. Both the experimental results and computer simulation reveal that the 2D self-assembly is initiated by 1D dipolar attraction common in nanometer-sized objects. The dense 1D attachment of Au15 leads to a redistribution of the surface ligands, thus generating asymmetric vdW attraction. The deliberate control of the coordination of dipolar and vdW attraction further allows to manipulate the thickness and morphologies of 2D self-assembly architectures.
authors.affiliation: †State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Zhennan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: †State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Jiale
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: ‡State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, Institute of Theoretical Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130023, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Yanchun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: †State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Ziyi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: †State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Tingting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: †State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: ‡State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, Institute of Theoretical Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130023, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Zhongyuan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: †State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Bai
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Yang
keywords: anisotropic vdW attraction; nanocluster; nanosheet; self-assembly; two-dimensional material