Partitioning surface ligands on nanocrystals for maximal solubility

Zhenfeng Pang, Jun Zhang, Weicheng Cao, Xueqian Kong () and Xiaogang Peng ()
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Zhenfeng Pang: Zhejiang University
Jun Zhang: Zhejiang University
Weicheng Cao: Zhejiang University
Xueqian Kong: Zhejiang University
Xiaogang Peng: Zhejiang University

Nature Communications, 2019, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract A typical colloidal nanoparticle can be viewed as a nanocrystal-ligands complex with an inorganic single-crystalline core, the nanocrystal, bonded with a monolayer of organic ligands. The surface chemistry of nanocrystal-ligands complexes is crucial to their bulk properties. However, deciphering the molecular pictures of the nonperiodic and dynamic organic-inorganic interlayer is a grand technical challenge, and this hampers the quantitative perception of their macroscopic phenomena. Here we show that the atomic arrangement on nanocrystal surface and ligand-ligand interactions can be precisely quantified through comprehensive solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (SSNMR) methodologies. The analyses reveal that the mixed ligands of n-alkanoates on a CdSe nanocrystal segregate in areal partitions and the unique arrangement unlocks their rotational freedom. The mathematical model based on the NMR-derived ligand partition and dynamics successfully predicts the unusual solubility of nanocrystal-ligands complexes with mixed ligands, which is several orders of magnitude higher than that of nanocrystal-ligands complexes with pure ligands.

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-10389-5

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