title: Following the Assembly of Iron Oxide Nanocubes by Video Microscopy and Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation Monitoring.
abstract: We have studied the growth of ordered arrays by evaporation-induced self-assembly of iron oxide nanocubes with edge lengths of 6.8 and 10.1 nm using video microscopy (VM) and quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D). Ex situ electron diffraction of the ordered arrays demonstrates that the crystal axes of the nanocubes are coaligned and confirms that the ordered arrays are mesocrystals. Time-resolved video microscopy shows that growth of the highly ordered arrays at slow solvent evaporation is controlled by particle diffusion and can be described by a simple growth model. The growth of each mesocrystal depends only on the number of nanoparticles within the accessible region irrespective of the relative time of formation. The mass of the dried mesocrystals estimated from the analysis of the bandwidth-shift-to-frequency-shift ratio correlates well with the total mass of the oleate-coated nanoparticles in the deposited dispersion drop.
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials and Environmental Chemistry, Arrhenius Laboratory, Stockholm University , SE-10691 Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Agthe
authors.affiliation: Department of Engineering Sciences, Ångström Laboratory, Uppsala University , SE-75121 Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Wetterskog
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials and Environmental Chemistry, Arrhenius Laboratory, Stockholm University , SE-10691 Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Lennart
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-5702-0681
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bergström