Octo-diamond crystal of nanoscale tetrahedra with interchanging chiral motifs

Abstract

Despite their simplicity, tetrahedra can assemble into diverse high- and low-density structures. Here we report a low-density ‘octo-diamond’ structure formed by nanoscale solid tetrahedra with a 64-tetrahedron unit cell containing 8 cubic-diamond subcells. The formed crystal is achiral, but is composed of chiral bilayers with alternating handedness. The left- and right-handed chirality of the bilayers, combined with the plasmonic nature of the gold tetrahedra, produces chiroptical responses at the crystal surface. We uncover that the hydrophobic substrate facilitates the arrangement of tetrahedra into irregular ring-like patterns, creating a critical, uneven topography to stabilize the observed octo-diamond structure. This study reveals a potent way to affect colloidal crystallization through particle–substrate interactions, expanding the nanoparticle self-assembly toolbox. A superlattice structure of gold tetrahedra formed via a surface-promoted pathway is reported. The octo-diamond crystal is achiral, but exhibits bilayers of left- and right-handed chiral motifs with chiroptical plasmonic responses.