Coupling morphological and magnetic anisotropy for assembling tetragonal colloidal crystals.

ABSTRACT: Morphological and magnetic anisotropy can be combined in colloidal assembly to create unconventional secondary structures. We show here that magnetite nanorods interact along a critical angle, depending on their aspect ratios and assemble into body-centered tetragonal colloidal crystals. Under a magnetic field, size-dependent attractive and repulsive domains develop on the ends and center of the nanorods, respectively. Our joint experiment-computational multiscale study demonstrates the presence of a critical angle in the attractive domain, which defines the equilibrium bonding states of interacting rods and leads to the formation of non–close-packed yet hard-contact tetragonal crystals. Small-angle x-ray scattering measurement attributes the perfect tetragonal phase to the slow assembly k

SUBMITTER: Li Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8442868 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature