Themed collection Nanocrystal growth via oriented attachment

Welcome to this CrystEngComm themed issue on the topic of nanocrystal growth via oriented attachment.

Oriented aggregation provides a route by which unique morphologies can be produced and defects incorporated into nanocrystalline materials.

The multiple roles of capping ligands include promoting or inhibiting aggregation and thus influencing OA, and hindering OR from occurring.

We highlight recent progress in understanding how organic self-assembled monolayers control crystallisation, considering both experimental and simulation studies.

The dynamic evolution of the Coulombic interaction in the oriented-attachment growth of nanorods is investigated via a Coulombic interaction expression.

In recent years, the preparation of nano functional materials with new properties in the way of self-assembly of nanoparticles (NPs) has gradually become a new focus in the nanoscale field.

In vacuum or at close proximity of nanoparticles in a solution, the physical and thermodynamic driving forces for oriented attachment of two nanoparticles come from the interatomic Coulombic interactions between them.

Growth and phase transition induced first by oriented aggregation of β-FeOOH particles and subsequently by aggregation of β-FeOOH onto α-Fe₂O₃ particles.

The growth of MgAl₂O₄ in calcinations reveals that besides diffusion, oriented attachment is another possible growth path for nanoparticles.

Nanocrystalline, textured, AZO films were prepared from Al³⁺-containing Zn-salt solutions under moderate reaction conditions using a directing organic template.

TEM investigations provide new detail of the agglomeration, coarsening and consumption of primary α-Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles during growth of α-Fe₂O₃ nanorods.

Uniform mesocrystalline hematite nanoplates, which showed considerable magnetism and good visible-light photocatalytic activity, were synthesized via 2D oriented attachment through controlled hydrolysis of ferric acetylacetonate in ethanol without organic additives.

This article identifies influential flow phenomena and dynamic mesocrystal growth modes during drop-casting of iron oxide nanocube dispersions.

Novel Fe₃O₄ ring-like nanostructures have been prepared by a facile hydrothermal method via oriented attachment of Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles. Superparamagnetic Fe₃O₄ nanorings exhibit a high saturation moment M_s value of 75.3 emu g⁻¹ due to ring-like assemblies with synergistic magnetism.

Li-doped ZnO nanorods with single-crystal quality could be obtained by an oriented detachment and were re-assembled into novel, mesoporous sensors.

Supramolecular polyrotaxanes based on cyclodextrins have been carboxylated and used as functionalized supermolecules to control crystallization of CaCO₃ on polymer templates.

Anatase condensates with [100]/(001) and [100]/(01) tilt boundaries.

Hydrothermally treated nanocrystalline anatase TiO₂ phase transforms to rutile TiO₂ by a two-step mechanism, interface–nucleation and dissolution–precipitation.

The concentration-dependent adsorption–desorption equilibrium of MPA dominates the growth kinetics and corresponding PL properties of MPA-capped CdTe QDs.

The aggregation of suspended metal oxide and oxyhydroxide nanoparticles dramatically changes as a function of solvent properties. Generally speaking, solvents that strongly coordinate the metal oxide/oxyhydroxide surfaces produce the smallest and least compact aggregates, whereas those that weakly coordinate produce the largest and most compact aggregates.

A fast and simple ZnO mesocrystal synthesis, which is based on a multiple stage oriented attachment process within a three-block copolymer as template-agent, is investigated in detail.

Oriented attachment is an important mechanism to WO₃/TiO₂ heterostructure formation, evidencing the role of interfaces in photoactivity improvement.

Fcc-type AuCu₃ nanocondensates with 5 sets of {111}-motif twin boundaries (denoted as I to V) with {100} edges.

Nanogoethite was prepared by reacting ferric sulfate or ferric nitrate with potassium hydroxide. Higher activation energy was found for oriented attachment-based growth in the sulfate compared to the nitrate system.