Illuminating pathways for nanoparticle superlattice self-assembly

Abstract

The final structure of nanoparticle self-assembly intimately depends on the assembly pathway, which has remained obscure due to a lack of sufficiently high-spatiotemporal-resolution direct imaging approaches. Now, combining liquid-cell transmission electron microscopy with molecular dynamics simulations uncovers the complete dynamics of solvent-dependent assembly and phase transitions of nanocube superlattices.