Nanocrystal superlattices are ordered arrays of colloidal nanocrystals, often viewed as artificial solids in which nanocrystals replace atoms as the structural units. This article highlights a recent study in which the shape of silver nanocrystals was finely tuned to direct their assembly into superlattices from face-centered cubic to body-centered cubic structures, while accessing the transient intermediate structures along the Nishiyama-Wassermann martensitic pathway. By tuning nanocrystal sphericity and revealing the role of soft ligand-mediated interactions through computational simulation, this work shows how the shape of nanocrystal can be tailored to stabilize an intermediate superlattice phase and modulate its optical response.
Jianlong He (2026) studied this question.