Synthesis of layered platelets by self-assembly of rhenium-based clusters directed by long-chain amines

Abstract

Materials science: Small molecules hold atomic clusters together Scaffolds made of chain-shaped molecules can be erected and dismantled to control the assembly of small atomic clusters. Andrés Seral-Ascaso, Valeria Nicolosi and colleagues from Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, developed a method to let grains of few Rhenium and Selenium atoms assemble into flat, circular platelets in a liquid solution. Key to the process are the organic molecules composing the solution, having a head that attaches to the clusters and a chain-like tail that makes the molecules align like poles of a scaffold. The clusters are held together in stable platelets, until the addition of another liquid breaks the alignment and disperses the clusters again. Breaking the organic scaffold in a solution that contains graphene sheets makes the re-dispersed clusters deposit on such sheets, forming composite materials that may find use in batteries or sensors.