Accommodating curvature in a highly ordered functionalized metal oxide nanofiber: synthesis, characterization and multi-scale modeling of layered nanosheets
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Date
2012-10
Authors
O'Dwyer, Colm
Gannon, G.
McNulty, David
Buckley, D. Noel
Thompson, Damien
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
American Chemical Society Publications
Published Version
Abstract
A key element in the rational design of hybrid organic-inorganic nanostructures, is control of surfactant packing and adsorption onto the inorganic phase in crystal growth and assembly. In layered single crystal nanofibers and bilayered 2D nanosheets of vanadium oxide, we show how the chemisorption of preferred densities of surfactant molecules can direct formation of ordered, curved layers. The atom-scale features of the structures are described using molecular dynamics simulations that quantify surfactant packing effects and confirm the preference for a density of 5 dodecanethiol molecules per 8 vanadium attachment sites in the synthesised structures. This assembly maintains a remarkably well ordered interlayer spacing, even when curved. The assemblies of interdigitated organic bilayers on V2O5 are shown to be sufficiently flexible to tolerate curvature while maintaining a constant interlayer distance without rupture, delamination or cleavage. The accommodation of curvature and invariant structural integrity points to a beneficial role for oxide-directed organic film packing effects in layered architectures such as stacked nanofibers and hybrid 2D nanosheet systems.
Description
Keywords
Hybrid materials , Self-assembly , Curved nanostructures , Transmission electron microscopy , Alkanethiols , Molecular dynamics , Vanadium oxide , Nanosheets , Synthesis
Citation
O'Dwyer, C., Gannon, G., McNulty, D., Buckley, D. N., Thompson, D. (2012) 'Accommodating curvature in a highly ordered functionalized metal oxide nanofiber: synthesis, characterization and multi-scale modeling of layered nanosheets'. Chemistry of Materials, 24, 3981−3992.
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Copyright
Copyright © 2012 American Chemical Society. This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in Chemistry of Materials, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/cm302648h