In Situ TEM Transformations of Colloidal Inorganic Nanocrystals and Their Surfaces

Nanocrystals are intriguing because their properties deviate from those of their bulk counterparts and are tunable with factors such as size and shape. Due to nanocrystals’ high surface area-to-volume ratios, their surfaces play a very important role in defining their physical properties, stability, and functionality. This can have important implications for many applications, including catalysis, photovoltaics, and plasmonics. Although colloidal inorganic nanocrystals are typically synthesized using long-chain, insulating organic ligands, many strategies have been explored to exchange the surface molecules into chemistries that enable conductivity between nanocrystals in close-packed films, affect the photoluminescence quantum yield, or enhance solution processability. This presentation will explore nanocrystals under in situ stimuli, including how their morphologies transform and the critical role of surface atoms, with the goal of making connections between their atomic structures and the resulting physical properties.