Complex inorganic heterostructured nanoparticles, which contain two or more distinct materials, incorporate properties from the constituent materials and also enhanced synergistic properties that are not present in either material alone. The interfaces that connect these materials play a crucial role in the observed synergistic properties. Direct synthesis of these materials is often hard to achieve, and controlling interface placement can also be challenging. To circumvent this problem, colloidal post-synthetic modification techniques, such as cation exchange and seeded growth, have been explored as methods to generate heterostructured nanoparticles. This talk will describe an approach to making heterostructured nanoparticles that combines both techniques. We use seeded growth to install Au nanoparticles on CdS nanorods, followed by partial cation exchange that targets Cd<sup>2+</sup> in CdS. We find that under certain conditions, the Au nanoparticles direct the locations along the CdS nanorods at which partial cation exchange occurs, and, accordingly, where new interfaces are installed within the nanorods. We correlate this observation to the formation of interfaces on the surfaces of the nanorods that preferentially facilitate cation exchange. This discovery provides a new approach for controlling the locations of interfaces within heterostructured nanorods.

Combining seeded growth and cation exchange to direct interface formation in heterostructured metal sulfide nanoparticles

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ACS Spring 2023

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