Cover Feature: Dispersibility of TiO₂ Nanoparticles in Less Polar Solvents: Role of Ligand Tail Structures (Chem. Eur. J. 9/2023)

Abstract

The cover feature shows a schematic impression of our study on the dispersibility of TiO2 nanoparticles in less polar solvents. For ligand tail structures, there is a huge gap between saturated stearyl groups (depicted as waxes) and unsaturated oleyl groups (depicted as olives), even though there is very little difference in their molecular structures. In this study, we have synthesized two different ligands to bridge shores that are close yet far apart. More information can be found in the Research Article by Y. Okada and co‐workers (DOI: 10.1002/chem.202203608).

Effect of the bulkiness of alkyl ligands on the excited-state dynamics of ZnO nanocrystals

“…Recent detailed studies of organic ligands have revealed that a slight difference in the molecular structure of aliphatic ligands signicantly affects the dispersibility of the NCs. [10][11][12][13] Moreover, it has also been reported that the dispersibility and emission properties of NCs are altered by changing the primary, secondary, and tertiary structures of the phosphonic acids and thiols. 14 However, there are few examples that reveal the effect of the molecular structure of alkyl ligands on the excited-state dynamics of NCs.…”

Understanding Flexdispersion: Structure‐Function Relationship Studies of Organic Amphiphilic Ligands

“…Even with ligands with the same molecular formula, slight differences in molecular structure can significantly change the dispersibility of nanoparticles modified with organic ligands. [23,[36][37][38] Therefore, it is important to understand which molecular structures of amphiphilic ligands are able to disperse nanoparticles in a variety of solvents for materials applications. Described herein are the results of structurefunction relationship studies of amphiphilic ligands designed to assess their ability to disperse nanoparticles in various solvents.…”

“…However, the effect of the arrangement or the order of individual chains on the dispersibility in various solvents has not been examined systematically. Even with ligands with the same molecular formula, slight differences in molecular structure can significantly change the dispersibility of nanoparticles modified with organic ligands [23,36–38] . Therefore, it is important to understand which molecular structures of amphiphilic ligands are able to disperse nanoparticles in a variety of solvents for materials applications.…”