Cannot be thinner

Yin, Xi

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Description

Title

Cannot be thinner

Author(s)

Yin, Xi

Issue Date

2015-04

Keyword(s)

Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Abstract

The image depicts a Hanoi Tower-like multilayered palladium nanosheet, composed of atomically thin layers. These layers are concentric while slightly twisted against each other, resulting in a rare polycrystalline two dimensional nanostructure for metal. The highlighted Pd4(CO)4(OAc)4 molecule is identified as the key intermediate to the highly anisotropic growth of these ultrathin sheets, based on density functional theory (DFT) calculations. In the background, the STEM / AFM micrographs of this multilayered nanostructure are presented, together with its arced electron diffraction spots. My research aims to, at the molecular level,understand how nanocrystals form from small molecules. This work elucidated the relationship between the adsorption of the metal complex and the anisotropic shape of metal nanocrystals. This new approach allows for the prediction of the growth mode of metal nanocrystals from first principles, including the thermodynamic and kinetic details. This work demonstrated that quantum chemistry tools can be invaluable in linking the precursor molecules with the shapes of nanocrystals. For the first time, we are able to connect the molecular world with the nano realm. Xi Yin, Xinhong Liu, Yung-Tin Pan, Kathleen A. Walsh, and Hong Yang, Nano Letters 2014, ASAP Article.

Type of Resource

• text
• image

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/74845

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2015 Xi Yin

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