Phys.org  June 13, 2024 Checkerboard lattices—where the resulting structure is open, porous, and highly symmetric—are difficult to create by self-assembly. Synthetic systems that adopt such structures typically rely on shape complementarity and site-specific chemical interactions that are only available to biomolecular systems (e.g., protein, DNA). A team of researchers in the US (University of California at San Diego, Duke University) demonstrated the assembly of checkerboard lattices from colloidal nanocrystals that harnessed the effects of multiple, coupled physical forces at disparate length scales and that did not rely on chemical binding. Colloidal Ag nanocubes were bi-functionalized with mixtures of hydrophilic and […]