Seeding Nanoparticles for Hierarchical Self-Assembly

Fabrication of high-level nanomaterials via hierarchical self-assembly of nanoparticles is of great interest for nanotechnology. However, the application of this strategy is limited by the availability of the nanoparticles or the building block with good uniformity in size and surface properties, and the driving force controlling the self-assembly. Here, we report an unexpected simple strategy to control these two factors for realizing a hierarchical self-assembly. First, similar to seeding, uniform nanoparticles are synthesized by growing "nanocells" from uniform nanoseed, the spherical micelles of surfactant. Second, appropriate shearing is employed as the driving force to induce the self-assembly of the "nanocells". As a result, a beautiful two-dimensional hexagonal sulfur nanobrick is fabricated in this study. Moreover, it is found that the self assembled structure of sulfur nanobrick can be stabilized by conductive agents. This study is instructive for developing a cost-effective approach for synthesizing advanced nanomaterials via hierarchical self-assembly.