Scientists from the Friedrich Schiller University Jena and the Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, both Germany, have successfully developed nanomaterials using a so-called bottom-up approach. As reported in the journal ACS Nano, they exploit the fact that crystals often grow in a specific direction during crystallization. These resulting nanostructures could be used in various technological applications.
. DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.3c05461
"Our structures could be described as worm-like rods with decorations," explains Prof. Felix Schacher."Embedded in these rods are; in our case, this was silica. However, instead of silica, conductive nanoparticles or semiconductors could also be used—or even mixtures, which can be selectively distributed in the nanocrystals using our method," he adds.
"One could imagine it like hairs on a sphere," the scientist explains. He adds,"These hairs are made of a material called 'poly-.' This substance crystallizes when heated. And that's the idea of our method: crystals almost never grow in all directions simultaneously but prefer a particular direction. This is known as anisotropy. Thus, we were able to grow our nanostructures deliberately.
Schacher is particularly excited about the unique collaboration that made this research possible."Without the excellent cooperation with Prof. Michael Engel from the University of Erlangen, this work would not have been accomplished," emphasizes the scientist from Jena.
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