Particle Ordering: Order and Defects in Ceramic Semiconductor Nanoparticle Superstructures as a Function of Polydispersity and Aspect Ratio (Part. Part. Syst. Charact. 2/2017)

Abstract

Learning which parameters influence order is important for the generation of future particle‐based materials. Aspect ratio and polydispersity could be influenced independently from each other for ZnO nanorods. Sebastian Polarz and co‐workers deduce the impact on order parameters and structural defects from a quantitative evaluation of electron microscopy data in article number 1600215.

Ligand‐Programmed Consecutive Symmetry Break(s) in Nanoparticle Based Materials Showing Emergent Phenomena: Transitioning from Sixfold to Threefold Symmetry in Anisotropic ZnO Colloids

“…The capping agents used in the described method, are related to a commercially available emulsifier (“P3P” = polyglyceryl‐3‐polyricinoleate), which is known in the cosmetic industry and also for the preparation of other ZnO nanoparticles. [ 55–57 ] From a chemical analysis of P3P, we learned that it actually is an oligomeric compound with glycerol‐oleate‐esters of various composition (see Figure S2 in the Supporting Information). It is obviously not clear, which of the constituents of P3P is responsible for the emergence of the trigonal shape of the ZnO nanorods, neither is the formation mechanism clear at all.…”

Sacrificial Templating: A Route to Europium-II Oxide (EuO) Particles with Arbitrary Shape Prepared Indirectly by Hostile Takeover

“…This problem was just shifted to another one. On the other hand, our group has acquired substantial knowledge about the preparation of shaped zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles, − and also in the literature by others, plentiful ZnO nanomaterials and nanoparticles exist . This was the birth of the idea explored in the current paper: whether a broad variety of EuO particles can be prepared via sacrificial templating starting from ZnO materials as sacrificial crystals.…”

“…Furthermore, the particles could be suitable for application in spintronic devices. Although our first attempts working with nanoscaled ZnO nanoparticles − look promising, we also saw some problems that need to be solved in the future. Most importantly, the process temperature at 500 °C is quite high, and sintering effects occur due to the small sizes of the nanoparticles.…”