Liquid-on-solid heterogeneous nucleation for a general synthesis of yolk-shell nanostructures.

Liquid-on-solid heterogeneous nucleation on solid nanoparticle seeds was achieved. Syrup solutions from a solute-induced phase separation (SIPS) process were heterogeneously nucleated on nanoparticle seeds to form syrup domains, similar to the "seeded growth" method in classical nanosynthesis. The selective inhibition of homogeneous nucleation was also confirmed and exploited for a high-purity synthesis, showing similarity between nanoscale droplets and particles. The seeded-growth of syrup could serve as a general and robust method to one-step fabricate yolk-shell nanostructures, with efficient loading of the dissolved substances.