Tolerance in Superstructures Formed by High-Quality Colloidal ZnO Nanoparticles with Hexagonal Cross-Section

In particle-based materials one hopes for cooperative effects, if nanoparticles form periodic arrays. Because for particle shapes deviating from spherical, it is difficult to obtain monodisperse samples, we investigated the influence of polydispersity in 2D colloidal crystallization. We work with hexagonal ZnO nanoplates with sizes below 50nm, and the directionality of inter-particle interaction was tuned by choice of the capping agents. Surprisingly, there was no glass to crystal transition for a critical value of polydispersity, but a continuous transition.