Sci-Bytes : 2008 : 02.10.2008 - Hot Paper in Chemistry
SCI-BYTES - WHAT'S NEW IN RESEARCH
Week of February 10, 2008
Hot Paper in Chemistry
"Structural diversity in binary nanoparticle
superlattices," by Elena V. Shevchenko, Dmitri V. Talapin,
Nicholas A. Kotov, Stephen O'Brien, and Christopher B. Murray,
Nature, 439(7072): 55-9, 5 January 2006.
[Authors' affiliations: IBM Research Division, Yorktown Heights, NY;
Columbia University, New York, NY; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor]
Abstract: "Assembly of small building blocks such as
atoms, molecules, and nanoparticles into macroscopic structures--that is,
'bottom up' assembly--is a theme that runs through chemistry, biology and
material science. Bacteria, macromolecules, and nanoparticles can
self-assemble, generating ordered structures with a precision that
challenges current lithographic techniques. The assembly of nanoparticles
of two different materials into a binary nanoparticle superlattice (BNSL)
can provide a general and inexpensive path to a large variety of materials
(metamaterials) with precisely controlled chemical composition and tight
placement of the components. Maximization of the nanoparticle packing
density has been proposed as the driving force for BNSL formation, and only
a few BNSL structures have been predicted to be thermodynamically stable.
Recently, colloidal crystals with micrometre-scale lattice spacings have
been grown from oppositely charged polymethyl methacrylate spheres. Here we
demonstrate formation of more than 15 different BNSL structures, using
combinations of semiconducting, metallic and magnetic nanoparticle building
blocks. At least ten of these colloidal crystalline structures have not
been reported previously. We demonstrate that electrical charges on
sterically stabilized nanoparticles determine BNSL stoichiometry;
additional contributions from entropic, van der Waals, steric and dipolar
forces stabilize the variety of BNSL structures."
This 2006 report from Nature was cited 24
times in current journal articles indexed by Thomson
Scientific during September-October 2007. During that two-month period,
only one other chemistry paper published in the last two years (excluding
reviews) attracted a higher number of citations. Prior to the most recent
bimonthly count, citations to the paper have accrued as follows:
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Sci-Bytes : 2008 : 02.10.2008 - Hot Paper in Chemistry