The integration of inorganic nanocrystals as building units into mesoscale architectures yields materials whose structure is controllable on atomic, nano, and meso length scales providing a foundation for understanding how system-level functional properties emerge. We assembly nanocrystals into thin film electrodes by chemically displacing the insulating organic ligands coating their surfaces to leave exposed coordination sites at which block copolymer templating agents dynamically adsorb [1]. Through selection of the nanocrystal and polymer building blocks, the crystallite size and shape, the mesopore dimensions, and the inorganic wall thickness are all tunable. As a result, electrochemical properties can be correlated with structure on multiple length scales to determine design rules for high performance electrodes. In one example, the shape and size of anatase titania nanocrystals are correlated with performance characteristics of lithium ion battery electrodes. Nanorod-based mesoporous films are found to exhibit minimal loss in charge capacity out to at least 1000 cycles.[1] R. Buonsanti, et al. Nano Lett. 12  (2012), 3872.

Correlating electrochemical properties with structure on the mesoscale

246th National Meeting (2013)

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