Nanoparticles in Layered Media

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Nanoparticles are of great technological importance but are very difficult to manipulate and control. Good progress has been made in two areas: the first is the control of size and shape of the particles themselves. The second is a recent demonstration that the particles can be fused together by joining crystallographically equivalent facets. This implies that nanoscale building blocks can be combined like 'lego' bricks. Unfortunately progress with arranging semiconductor nanoparticles (bringing the lego bricks together) is more limited. This is an essential step to creating nanoscale electronic devices. My research will address this problem. My approach will be to manipulate the particles by dispersing them in a solvent that has ordered phases. I will specifically make use of layered phases to confine particles in two-dimensional regions. It is possible that the nanoparticles will then interact with each other via their effect on the host solvent. This could lead to the controlled aggregation of particles. A major strength of my approach is that the successful procedures are not dependent on the particular chemistry of the nanoparticle. Hence it should be possible to repeat techniques with a range of different sorts of particle. A later development will be to use non-equilibrium phenomena to assist with spatial organisation of the particles. Layered phases are novel states of matter in their own right. Consequently our research on their relationship with dispersed nanoparticles is of fundamental significance beyond nanotechnology. We anticipate creating new partially ordered phases and arrested states that will provide a challenge to theories of soft composites and membranes with inclusions.