Exploring the Crystalline Structure of Gold Mesocrystals Using X-ray Diffraction

Abstract

Mesocrystals are a class of nanostructured material where individual nanocrystals are arranged in a distinct crystallographic orientation. The multiple-length-scale order in such materials plays an essential role in the emergent physical and chemical phenomena. Our work studies the structure of a faceted mesocrystal composed of polystyrene-functionalized single crystalline gold nanoparticles using complementary ultrasmall- and wide-angle X-ray scattering (USAXS and WAXS) with electron microscopy. The results of the data analysis shed some light on the details of the microscopic structure of mesocrystals and their structuration principle.

Keywords

• mesocrystal
• gold nanoparticles
• small-angle X-ray diffraction
• wide-angle X-ray diffraction
• supercrystallography