Colloidal hybrid nanoparticles incorporate two or more material domains joined through solid-state interfaces into a single nanoparticle architecture. These multi-functional materials have synergistic properties not found in their individual components that can enable applications in areas such as solar energy conversion, catalysis, biomedicine and electronics. While the majority of the hybrid nanoparticle literature focuses on two component systems, more sophisticated hybrid architectures that contain three or more material domains offer greater multi-functionality and more sophisticated synergistic properties. Challenges in the design of precisely configured high-order hybrid nanoparticles, however, have bottlenecked their widespread synthesis and application. In order to address these challenges a better understanding of the synthetic pathways governing the formation of high-order hybrid nanoparticles is required. In this presentation, we discuss a high-resolution microscopic study on the chemoselective growth of Ag onto Pt-Fe3O4 heterodimer seeds to form the Ag-Pt-Fe3O4 heterotrimer product. We observe Ag growth is initiated first by indiscriminate, multisite nucleation onto both Fe3O4 and Pt surfaces of the Pt-Fe3O4 nanoparticle seeds, followed by surface mediated diffusion and eventual coalesce of the Ag on the Pt domain. We also observe the final morphology of the Ag domain to be dependent on subtle chemical differences at the seed surface, which can be tuned during the Pt-Fe3O4 seed synthesis. These findings provide new insights into the pathways governing hybrid nanoparticle synthesis, which can be leveraged in the rational design of high-order hybrid nanoparticle architectures.

Microscopic investigation of chemoselectivity in Ag-Pt-Fe3O4 nanoparticle heterotrimer formation: Mechanistic insights and implications for controlling high-rrder hybrid nanoparticle morphology

251st National Meeting (2016)

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