Ripening of Gold clusters into Single Domain on Semiconductor Quantum Rods during Langmuir-Blodgett Deposition

Rapidly forming large gold nanocrystal (~10 nm) on CdSe/CdS nanorod while maintaining the nanorod geometry remains challenging. In this study, we demonstrated that by using Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) deposition, numerous tiny gold nanocrystals (2~3 nm) can ripen into a single gold nanocrystal with a size of 8~9 nm on each nanorod within 4 hours. Thanks to the room temperature and low corrosiveness of the chemicals used in the technique, the nanorod geometry was perfectly maintained. Besides, the reaction was found accompanied with a ligand exchange procedure, which perhaps resulted in a hydrophobic/hydrophilic “janus” structure on the final hybrid nanoparticles.