Configurations of Nanocubes Floating and Clustering on Liquid Surfaces.

The configurations of nanoparticles (NPs) floating on liquid surfaces can be largely affected by the NP shapes in combination with different NP-liquid coupling strengths. Here, the behavior of ligated nanocubes (NCs) on liquid surfaces is studied as an example of such NP floating by analytical methods and molecular dynamics simulations. Depending on the NC-liquid coupling strength, NCs can sit on the liquid surface (weak), be partly immersed in a tilted orientation (intermediate), or be fully immersed except for the top facet (strong). The simulations reveal that configurations of clusters of self-assembled NCs on liquid surfaces can be even more complex and also determined by the NC-liquid and NC-NC coupling strengths, thus providing a rich spectrum of possible superstructures formed.