CdSe Nanoplatelets: Living Polymers.
Colloidal CdSe nanoplatelets are considered to be excellent candidates for many applications in nanotechnology. One of the current challenges is to self-assemble these colloidal quantum wells into large ordered structures to control their collective optical properties. We describe a simple and robust procedure to achieve controlled face-to-face self-assembly of CdSe nanoplatelets into micron-long polymer-like threads made of up to ∼1000 particles. These structures are formed by addition of oleic acid to a stable colloidal dispersion of platelets, followed by slow drying and re-dispersion. We could control the average length of the CdSe nanoplatelet threads by varying the amount of added oleic acid. These 1-dimensional structures are flexible and feature a "living polymer" character because threads of a given length can be further grown through the addition of supplementary nanoplatelets at their reactive ends.
['Jana|Santanu|S|0000-0002-4136-1852', 'Davidson|Patrick|P|0000-0002-1363-6062', 'Abécassis|Benjamin|B|0000-0002-1629-9671']
nanoplatelets living polymers self-assembly nanostructures quantum dots