The development of
a strategy for the assembly of nanoscale building
blocks, in particular, anisotropic nanoparticles, into desired structures
is important for the construction of functional materials and devices.
However, control over the orientation of rod-shaped nanoparticles
on a substrate for integration into solid-state devices remains challenging.
Here, we report a strategy for the fabrication of finely aligned gold
nanorod (GNR) arrays using polymer (DNA) brushes as a nanoscale template.
The gold nanorods modified with cationic surface ligands were electrostatically
adsorbed onto the DNA brush substrates under various conditions. The
orientational behavior of the GNRs was examined by spectral analyses
and transmission electron microtomography (TEMT). As a result, we
found several important factors, such as moderate interaction between
GNRs and polymers and polymer densities on the substrate, related
to the vertical alignment of GNRs on the substrates. We also developed
a purification method to remove the undesired adsorption of GNRs onto
the arrays. Finally, we have succeeded in the fabrication of extensive
vertical GNR arrays of high quality via the easy bottom-up process.
Gold nanorod (GNR) arrays were prepared by GNR attachment on anionic polymer brushes via electrostatic interactions and their orientation reversibly changed by the modulation of interactions between GNRs and polymers via changes in the solution pH.
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