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Originally published in Science Express on 23 February 2006
Science 21 April 2006:
Vol. 312. no. 5772, pp. 420 - 424
DOI: 10.1126/science.1125124
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Reports

Electrostatic Self-Assembly of Binary Nanoparticle Crystals with a Diamond-Like Lattice

Alexander M. Kalsin, Marcin Fialkowski, Maciej Paszewski, Stoyan K. Smoukov, Kyle J. M. Bishop, Bartosz A. Grzybowski*

Self-assembly of charged, equally sized metal nanoparticles of two types (gold and silver) leads to the formation of large, sphalerite (diamond-like) crystals, in which each nanoparticle has four oppositely charged neighbors. Formation of these non–close-packed structures is a consequence of electrostatic effects specific to the nanoscale, where the thickness of the screening layer is commensurate with the dimensions of the assembling objects. Because of electrostatic stabilization of larger crystallizing particles by smaller ones, better-quality crystals can be obtained from more polydisperse nanoparticle solutions.

Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and The Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: grzybor{at}northwestern.edu

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)