Palladium Supercrystals: Nano makes Micro

Metal nanoparticles exhibit physical and chemical properties that are unique from the bulk metal. These properties depend heavily upon the shape and size of the nanoparticles. To be able to fine tune the shapes and thus the properties of these materials has been an active area of research in material chemistry. The assembly of these nano-sized particles into an ordered three dimensional arrangement (Supercrystal) can lead to collective properties that are significantly different from the individual nanoparticles. Shown here is a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) Image of Palladium supercrystals. These sub-micron sized crystals are formed by the self-assembly of the palladium nano-cuboctahedron monomers due to the slow diffusion of a surfactant (cetrimonium chloride) into a concentrated colloidal solution of palladium nano-cuboctahedron. The inset shows clearly the systematic arrangement of the Palladium nano-cuboctohedron. The final arrangement in a supercrystal depends on the shape of the nanoparticle used.Ope