Nanomaterial Formation at Fluid-Fluid Interfaces

Every major leap in the history of human civilization has been associated with mastering the utilization of a particular class of materials. Nowadays, nanomaterials are considered to be one of the primary candidates for enabling the next technological revolution in human history. However, utilization of nanomaterials’ unique properties in the publicly available technologies, faces the formidable challenge of devising efficient and reliable synthesis and assembly methods for them. After years of research on nanomaterials, we have reached a critical point where nanomaterials should make a decisive leap into real-life applications and everyday devices.

Among the myriad of examined fabrication methods, examples such as the formation of 2D materials on liquid metal catalysts (LMCats)*1 [1,2], synthesis of 1D materials (e.g. nanowires and nanotubes) via a vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) mechanism [3], and electro/chemical formation and assembly of 0D materials (e.g. nanoparticles, nanocapsules) at gas-liquid or liquid-liquid interfaces [4,5], are considered to be among the most successful, efficient, and versatile ones. The curious point is that all these methods involve a fluid-fluid (gas-liquid or liquid-liquid) interface (with disordered and mobile atomic nature) for the synthesis and assembly of nanomaterials with ordered internal structure and external arrangement. This common feature seems to be the key ingredient in devising an efficient fabrication method for virtually all classes of nanomaterials.

Different classes of nanomaterials however, have been historically developed by separate scientific and technological sub-communities. As a result, their techniques and theories have been evolved mostly independently, and they have been discussed in the literature as separate topics. The Lorentz Center and its interactive workshop format is an excellent platform to gather experts from different scientific and technological sub-communities together, where they can share their experiences and visions from their specific vantage points on this important common ground.

See for more information the PDF workshop manual under "workshop manual" 

 References

[1] J. Liu, L. Fu, Controllable Growth of Graphene on Liquid Surfaces. Adv. Mater. 31, 1800690 (2019).

[2]. M. Saedi, J.M. de Voogd, A. Sjardin, A. Manikas, C. Galiotis, M. Jankowski, G. Renaud, F. La Porta, O. Konovalov, G.J.C. van Baarle, I.M.N. Groot, Development of a reactor for the in situ monitoring of 2D materials growth on liquid metal catalysts, using synchrotron X-ray scattering, Raman spectroscopy, and optical microscopy, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 91, 013907 (2020).

[3] T. Maruyama, Current status of single-walled carbon nanotube synthesis from metal catalysts by chemical vapor deposition. Mater. Express, 8, 1–2 (2018).

[4] R.A.W. Dryfe, A. Uehara, S.G. Booth, Metal Deposition at the Liquid–Liquid Interface, Chem. Rec. 14, 1013–1023 (2014).

[5] S. Shi, T.P. Russell, Nanoparticle Assembly at Liquid–Liquid Interfaces: From the Nanoscale to Mesoscale, Adv. Mater. 30, 1800714 (2018).

*1 See our LMCat project website at: www.lmcat.eu, and our promotional video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp6VujNRDRI,

*2 See our LC workshop webpage at: https://www.lorentzcenter.nl/nanomaterial-formation-at-fluid-fluid-interfaces.html