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Peer-reviewedCC BYACS nano

Self-Assembly of Au/TiO2 Sphere-Rod Mixtures into Binary Supraparticles.

  • Marianne Bijl1,2
  • André F V Matias2
  • Lukáš Kolácný3
  • Erik Betz-Güttner1
  • Martin Veselý3
  • Marjolein Dijkstra2
  • Jessi E S van der Hoeven1
  • Alfons van Blaaderen2
  1. 1Materials Chemistry and Catalysis, Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science, Utrecht University, Universiteitsweg 99, 3584 CGUtrecht, The Netherlands.
  2. 2Soft Condensed Matter & Biophysics Group, Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science, Utrecht University, Princetonplein 1, 3584 CCUtrecht, The Netherlands.
  3. 3Department of Organic Technology, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Technická 5, 166 28Prague, Czech Republic.
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Abstract

Self-assembly of rod-sphere nanoparticle mixtures enables the design of advanced materials with anisotropic properties. While the phase behavior of rod-sphere mixtures has been explored in 2D and 3D bulk systems, it has remained unexplored in smaller 3D assemblies. Especially, when combining plasmonic and semiconductor nanoparticles, assemblies with defined particle arrangements offer unique optical and (photo)catalytic properties. In this work, we achieved the assembly of binary 3D assemblies tunable in size and phase behavior. Specifically, we assembled semiconductor TiO2 nanorods and plasmonic Au nanospheres under spherical confinement and explored their phase behavior in experiments and simulations. Through evaporation-driven assembly of emulsion droplets, binary supraparticles were prepared with a phase tunable from colloidal membranes, consisting of single rod layers, to binary smectic phases, composed of alternating rod-sphere smectic layers. Colloidal membranes were obtained for a sphere-to-rod number ratio (NAu/NTiO2) of 5, while lowering this ratio to 0.6 resulted in a binary smectic ordering, as confirmed with advanced electron microscopy. Through numerical simulations, we show that the binary smectic phase is stable for 0 < NAu/NTiO2 ≤ 1 in agreement with experiments. Our binary supraparticle platform provides structures with multi-length scale control for applications in photocatalysis, energy storage, and sensing.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{bijl2026selfassembly,
  title = {{Self-Assembly of Au/TiO2 Sphere-Rod Mixtures into Binary Supraparticles.}},
  author = {Marianne Bijl and André F V Matias and Lukáš Kolácný and Erik Betz-Güttner and Martin Veselý and Marjolein Dijkstra and Jessi E S van der Hoeven and Alfons van Blaaderen},
  journal = {ACS nano},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1021/acsnano.6c12966},
  url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42917197},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Self-Assembly of Au/TiO2 Sphere-Rod Mixtures into Binary Supraparticles.
AU  - Marianne Bijl
AU  - André F V Matias
AU  - Lukáš Kolácný
AU  - Erik Betz-Güttner
AU  - Martin Veselý
AU  - Marjolein Dijkstra
AU  - Jessi E S van der Hoeven
AU  - Alfons van Blaaderen
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/01
JO  - ACS nano
DO  - 10.1021/acsnano.6c12966
UR  - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42917197
AB  - Self-assembly of rod-sphere nanoparticle mixtures enables the design of advanced materials with anisotropic properties. While the phase behavior of rod-sphere mixtures has been explored in 2D and 3D bulk systems, it has remained unexplored in smaller 3D assemblies. Especially, when combining plasmonic and semiconductor nanoparticles, assemblies with defined particle arrangements offer unique optical and (photo)catalytic properties. In this work, we achieved the assembly of binary 3D assemblies tunable in size and phase behavior. Specifically, we assembled semiconductor TiO2 nanorods and plasmonic Au nanospheres under spherical confinement and explored their phase behavior in experiments and simulations. Through evaporation-driven assembly of emulsion droplets, binary supraparticles were prepared with a phase tunable from colloidal membranes, consisting of single rod layers, to binary smectic phases, composed of alternating rod-sphere smectic layers. Colloidal membranes were obtained for a sphere-to-rod number ratio (NAu/NTiO2) of 5, while lowering this ratio to 0.6 resulted in a binary smectic ordering, as confirmed with advanced electron microscopy. Through numerical simulations, we show that the binary smectic phase is stable for 0 < NAu/NTiO2 ≤ 1 in agreement with experiments. Our binary supraparticle platform provides structures with multi-length scale control for applications in photocatalysis, energy storage, and sensing.
SN  - 1936-0851
SN  - 1936-086X
ER  -