Facile One-Pot Synthesis of Bifunctional Heterodimers of Nanoparticles: A Conjugate of Quantum Dot and Magnetic Nanoparticles

摘要

This communication reports a simple chemical synthetic route for producing heterodimers of nanoparticles that have sizes of around 7 nm and are composed of magnetic nanoparticles and semiconductor colloids (quantum dots). In the rapidly advancing field of materials science, colloidal nanocrystals, especially quantum dots, and magnetic nanoparticles, have attracted broad attention and promise new applications because their mechanical, optical, electrical, magnetic, or chemical properties distinguish them from the corresponding bulk solid or liquid. The successful applications of nanoparticles require the ability to tune their properties. Besides the control of the size and composition of the spherical nanoparticles, their special properties are influenced by their shapes or long-range orders, which remain an important research goal under development. One of the simple strategies to generate nonspherical nanoparticles is to form asymmetrical dimers or heterodimers of two nanoparticles of different kinds. This has been achieved on the submicrometer scale via self-assembly and assistance through surface dewetting. The direct chemical synthesis of such dimers composed of distinct parts on the nanoscale (e.g., ～10 nm) has yet to be developed.