Non‐spherical colloidal nanoparticles have great potential for applications owing to their enhanced directional properties. However, the lack of methods to precisely assemble them on surfaces has hindered exploitation of their properties for planar devices. Here, the oriented assembly of short gold nanorods with lengths below 100 nm from colloidal suspensions is demonstrated. A locally induced phase transition confines the colloidal nanorods at a receding three‐phase contact line that is controllably moved over a nanostructured surface in a capillary assembly process. Dedicated topographical trapping sites allow for aligned assembly of the nanorods on the single‐particle level. The feasibility of this method is demonstrated by assembling nanorods into long‐range‐ordered, non‐close packed arrays that could serve as anti‐counterfeit labels by virtue of their distinct optical appearance in the far‐field. Furthermore, oriented nanorod dimers that are deterministically assembled have the potential to function as nano‐plasmonic antenna devices.

We report a simple, high-yield colloidal synthesis of copper indium selenide nanocrystals (CISe NCs) based on a silylamide-promoted approach. The silylamide anions increase the nucleation rate, which results in small-sized NCs exhibiting high luminescence and constant NC stoichiometry and crystal structure regardless of the NC size and shape. In particular, by systematically varying synthesis time and temperature, we show that the size of the CISe NCs can be precisely controlled to be between 2.7 and 7.9 nm with size distributions down to 9–10%. By introducing a specific concentration of silylamide-anions in the reaction mixture, the shape of CISe NCs can be preselected to be either spherical or tetrahedral. Optical properties of these CISe NCs span from the visible to near-infrared region with peak luminescence wavelengths of 700 to 1200 nm. The luminescence efficiency improves from 10 to 15% to record values of 50–60% by overcoating as-prepared CISe NCs with ZnSe or ZnS shells, highlighting their potential for applications such as biolabeling and solid state lighting.

Since the commercialization of lithium ion batteries (LIBs), layered transition metal oxides (LiMO2, where M = Co, Mn, Ni, or mixtures thereof) have been materials of choice for LIB cathodes. During cycling, the transition metals change their oxidation states, an effect that can be tracked by detecting energy shifts in the X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) spectrum. X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) can therefore be used to visualize and quantify lithiation kinetics in transition metal oxide cathodes; however, in-situ measurements are often constrained by temporal resolution and X-ray dose, necessitating compromises in the electrochemistry cycling conditions used or the materials examined. We report a combined approach to reduce measurement time and X-ray exposure for operando XAS studies of lithium ion batteries. A highly discretized energy resolution coupled with advanced post-processing enables rapid yet reliable identification of the oxidation state. A full-field microscopy setup provides sub-particle resolution over a large area of battery electrode, enabling the oxidation state within many transition metal oxide particles to be tracked simultaneously. Here, we apply this approach to gain insights into the lithiation kinetics of a commercial, mixed-metal oxide cathode material, nickel cobalt aluminium oxide (NCA), during (dis)charge and its degradation during overcharge.

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