Polyelemental heterostructure nanoparticles and methods of making the same

Abstract

Disclosed herein are method and design rules for making polyelemental systems with specific heterostructures, including tetra-phase nanopartides with as many as six junctions. In accordance with an embodiment, a method of making a tetra-phase polyelemental nanoparticle using tri-phase nanoparticle architectures can include selecting two or more triphase nanoparticle architectures, wherein the two or more tri-phase nanoparticle architectures are one or more striped tri-phase architectures, one or more pie-shaped tri-phase architectures, or combinations thereof; identifying from the selected two or more tri-phase nanoparticle architectures groups of metals for generating each of the two or more tri-phase nanoparticle architectures; contacting a tip coated with an ink to a substrate to form a nanoreactor, the ink comprising block copolymer and the metals from the groups of metals identified for generating each of the two or more tri-phase nanoparticle architectures; and annealing the nanoreactors under conditions sufficient to synthesize a tetra-phase polyelemental nanoparticle.