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Regioselective magnetization in semiconducting nanorods

Nature Nanotechnology volume 15, pages 192–197 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

Chirality—the property of an object wherein it is distinguishable from its mirror image—is of widespread interest in chemistry and biology1,2,3,4,5,6. Regioselective magnetization of one-dimensional semiconductors enables anisotropic magnetism at room temperature, as well as the manipulation of spin polarization—the properties essential for spintronics and quantum computing technology7. To enable oriented magneto-optical functionalities, the growth of magnetic units has to be achieved at targeted locations on a parent nanorod. However, this challenge is yet to be addressed in the case of materials with a large lattice mismatch. Here, we report the regioselective magnetization of nanorods independent of lattice mismatch via buffer intermediate catalytic layers that modify interfacial energetics and promote regioselective growth of otherwise incompatible materials. Using this strategy, we combine materials with distinct lattices, chemical compositions and magnetic properties, that is, a magnetic component (Fe3O4) and a series of semiconducting nanorods absorbing across the ultraviolet and visible spectrum at specific locations. The resulting heteronanorods exhibit optical activity as induced by the location-specific magnetic field. The regioselective magnetization strategy presented here enables a path to designing optically active nanomaterials for chirality and spintronics.

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Fig. 1: Regioselective magnetization of one-dimensional nanorods.
Fig. 2: Structural characterization of ZnxCd1−xS-Ag2S/Au@Fe3O4 heteronanorods.
Fig. 3: Growth of quaternary heteronanorods.
Fig. 4: Optical absorption spectroscopy.
Fig. 5: Local magnetic field induces optical activity in colloidal hybrid nanostructures.

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Data availability

The data are available from the corresponding authors on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 51732011, 21431006, 21761132008, 81788101, 11227901 and 21805188), the Foundation for Innovative Research Groups of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 21521001), Key Research Programme of Frontier Sciences, CAS (grant no. QYZDJ-SSW-SLH036), the National Basic Research Programme of China (grant no. 2014CB931800), the Users with Excellence and Scientific Research Grant of Hefei Science Centre of CAS (grant no. 2015HSC-UE007), Anhui Initiative in Quantum Information Technologies (grant no. AHY050000), Ontario Research Fund–Research Excellence Program and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Tao-Tao Zhuang, Yi Li, Xiaoqing Gao.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Nanomaterials & Chemistry, Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Institute of Biomimetic Materials & Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China

    Tao-Tao Zhuang, Yi Li, Gongpu Li, Chong Zhang, Liang Dong & Shu-Hong Yu

  2. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Tao-Tao Zhuang, Mingyang Wei, F. Pelayo García de Arquer, Petar Todorović, Xiyan Li & Edward H. Sargent

  3. CAS Key Laboratory of Nanosystem and Hierarchical Fabrication, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing, China

    Xiaoqing Gao, Xuekang Yang & Zhiyong Tang

  4. College of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Shenzhen University, Guangdong, China

    Xiaoqing Gao

  5. Engineering and Materials Science Experiment Center, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China

    Jie Tian

  6. School of Biological and Medical Engineering, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, China

    Yonghong Song & Yang Lu

  7. Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Libing Zhang & Shana O. Kelley

  8. CAS Key Laboratory of Microscale Magnetic Resonance and Department of Modern Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China

    Fengjia Fan

  9. Department of Chemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Shana O. Kelley

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  1. Tao-Tao Zhuang
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Contributions

S.-H.Y., E.H.S. and Z.T. supervised the project. T.-T.Z. and Y.Li conceived the idea, carried out the experiments, analysed the results and wrote the paper. X.G. helped to perform and analyse the circular dichroism and magnetic circular dichroism data. M.W. and Y.Li collected and analysed the transient absorption spectra. C.Z. helped to synthesize materials. L.D. and Y.-H.S. helped to conduct the magnetothermal and photothermal experiments. J.T. and G.L. helped to characterize the materials. F.P.G.d.A., P.T., X.L., Y.Lu, X.Y., L.Z., F.F. and S.O.K. helped to edit the manuscript. All authors discussed the results and assisted during manuscript preparation.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Shu-Hong Yu, Zhiyong Tang or Edward H. Sargent.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Peer review information Nature Nanotechnology thanks Hua Zhang and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figs. 1–26, Tables 1–4, Notes 1–3 and refs 1–16.

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Zhuang, TT., Li, Y., Gao, X. et al. Regioselective magnetization in semiconducting nanorods. Nat. Nanotechnol. 15, 192–197 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-019-0606-8

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