---
OA_place: publisher
OA_type: hybrid
PlanS_conform: '1'
_id: '22645'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: Nanocrystal superlattices are commonly formed by changing concentration, solvent
    conditions, or particle surface chemistry. Although effective, these approaches
    alter multiple contributions to the interparticle potential simultaneously, making
    it difficult to isolate the interactions responsible for ordering or to control
    assembly in chemically complex environments. Here, we show that oligomeric species
    present in a nanocrystal reaction medium drive superlattice formation through
    a depletion mechanism. Using PbTe nanocrystals as a model system, we identify
    Pb–oleate oligomers in the crude reaction mixture, characterize their solution
    structure, and quantify their contribution to the interparticle potential, establishing
    depletion as the dominant short-range interaction governing spontaneous body-centered
    cubic superlattice formation. We then confirm the depletion origin of ordering
    by showing that varying depletant concentration predictably shifts the order–disorder
    boundary and produces a thermally reversible transition between dispersed and
    ordered states ─ behavior that is inconsistent with van der Waals or ligand-mediated
    mechanisms but is a direct consequence of depletion control. Having established
    and validated the mechanism, we demonstrate that the same depletion framework
    can be deliberately activated in purified dispersions and transferred across nanocrystal
    systems of different composition and shape, including anisotropic and binary assemblies.
    These results establish precursor-derived depletion as a general and chemically
    grounded mechanism for nanocrystal superlattice formation, and show that collective
    ordering can be programmed through the surrounding medium rather than through
    particle surface modification.
acknowledged_ssus:
- _id: EM-Fac
- _id: NMR
- _id: LifeSc
acknowledgement: ISTA and the Werner Siemens Foundation financially supported this
  work. The Scientific Service Units (SSU) of ISTA supported this research through
  resources provided by the Electron Microscopy Facility (EMF), NMR Facility, and
  the Lab Support Facility (LSF). M.E. acknowledges financial support from Deutsche
  Forschungsgemeinschaft through Collaborative Research Centre 1411. We thank Dr.
  Tommaso Constanzo and Tobias Kleinhanns for assistance with high-quality electron
  microscope image acquisition, Dr. Jeonghyun Park for providing NCs, Dr. Mariano
  Calcabrini for assistance with the NMR study, and Prof. Jonathan De Roo for fruitful
  discussions. This work benefited from the use of the SasView application, originally
  developed under NSF award DMR-0520547. SasView contains code developed with funding
  from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the
  SINE2020 project, grant agreement No. 654000.
article_processing_charge: Yes (via OA deal)
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Seungho
  full_name: Lee, Seungho
  id: BB243B88-D767-11E9-B658-BC13E6697425
  last_name: Lee
  orcid: 0000-0002-6962-8598
- first_name: Daniel
  full_name: Balazs, Daniel
  id: 302BADF6-85FC-11EA-9E3B-B9493DDC885E
  last_name: Balazs
  orcid: 0000-0001-7597-043X
- first_name: Aiswarya
  full_name: Rayaroth Puthiyaveettil, Aiswarya
  id: 8aceb01b-8972-11ed-ae7b-d5fe53775add
  last_name: Rayaroth Puthiyaveettil
- first_name: Sharona
  full_name: Horta, Sharona
  id: 03a7e858-01b1-11ec-8b71-99ae6c4a05bc
  last_name: Horta
- first_name: Carl Peter
  full_name: Goodrich, Carl Peter
  id: EB352CD2-F68A-11E9-89C5-A432E6697425
  last_name: Goodrich
  orcid: 0000-0002-1307-5074
- first_name: Michael
  full_name: Engel, Michael
  last_name: Engel
- first_name: Ihor
  full_name: Cherniukh, Ihor
  id: d03b62b2-5976-11ef-a8d7-9525504b7895
  last_name: Cherniukh
- first_name: Maria
  full_name: Ibáñez, Maria
  id: 43C61214-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
  last_name: Ibáñez
  orcid: 0000-0001-5013-2843
citation:
  ama: Lee S, Balazs D, Rayaroth Puthiyaveettil A, et al. Reaction medium asan architect
    of nanocrystal superlattices. <i>Journal of the AmericanChemical Society</i>.
    2026;148(29):31245-31252. doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.6c07859">10.1021/jacs.6c07859</a>
  apa: Lee, S., Balazs, D., Rayaroth Puthiyaveettil, A., Horta, S., Goodrich, C. P.,
    Engel, M., … Ibáñez, M. (2026). Reaction medium asan architect of nanocrystal
    superlattices. <i>Journal of the AmericanChemical Society</i>. American Chemical
    Society. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.6c07859">https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.6c07859</a>
  chicago: Lee, Seungho, Daniel Balazs, Aiswarya Rayaroth Puthiyaveettil, Sharona
    Horta, Carl Peter Goodrich, Michael Engel, Ihor Cherniukh, and Maria Ibáñez. “Reaction
    Medium Asan Architect of Nanocrystal Superlattices.” <i>Journal of the AmericanChemical
    Society</i>. American Chemical Society, 2026. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.6c07859">https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.6c07859</a>.
  ieee: S. Lee <i>et al.</i>, “Reaction medium asan architect of nanocrystal superlattices,”
    <i>Journal of the AmericanChemical Society</i>, vol. 148, no. 29. American Chemical
    Society, pp. 31245–31252, 2026.
  ista: Lee S, Balazs D, Rayaroth Puthiyaveettil A, Horta S, Goodrich CP, Engel M,
    Cherniukh I, Ibáñez M. 2026. Reaction medium asan architect of nanocrystal superlattices.
    Journal of the AmericanChemical Society. 148(29), 31245–31252.
  mla: Lee, Seungho, et al. “Reaction Medium Asan Architect of Nanocrystal Superlattices.”
    <i>Journal of the AmericanChemical Society</i>, vol. 148, no. 29, American Chemical
    Society, 2026, pp. 31245–52, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.6c07859">10.1021/jacs.6c07859</a>.
  short: S. Lee, D. Balazs, A. Rayaroth Puthiyaveettil, S. Horta, C.P. Goodrich, M.
    Engel, I. Cherniukh, M. Ibáñez, Journal of the AmericanChemical Society 148 (2026)
    31245–31252.
corr_author: '1'
das_tickbox: '0'
date_created: 2026-08-04T06:29:31Z
date_published: 2026-07-15T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2026-08-04T06:47:13Z
day: '15'
ddc:
- '540'
department:
- _id: MaIb
- _id: LifeSc
- _id: GradSch
- _id: CaGo
doi: 10.1021/jacs.6c07859
external_id:
  pmid:
  - '42532904'
file:
- access_level: open_access
  checksum: 063314ae5ac4225ebd4436aa8707d113
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  creator: dernst
  date_created: 2026-08-04T06:40:17Z
  date_updated: 2026-08-04T06:40:17Z
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  file_name: 2026_JACS_Lee.pdf
  file_size: 6564594
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file_date_updated: 2026-08-04T06:40:17Z
has_accepted_license: '1'
intvolume: '       148'
issue: '29'
language:
- iso: eng
month: '07'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
page: 31245-31252
pmid: 1
project:
- _id: 9B8F7476-BA93-11EA-9121-9846C619BF3A
  name: 'HighTE: The Werner Siemens Laboratory for the High Throughput Discovery of
    Semiconductors for Waste Heat Recovery'
publication: Journal of the AmericanChemical Society
publication_identifier:
  eissn:
  - 1520-5126
  issn:
  - 0002-7863
publication_status: published
publisher: American Chemical Society
quality_controlled: '1'
researchdata_availability: no
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
supplementarymaterial: yes
title: Reaction medium asan architect of nanocrystal superlattices
tmp:
  image: /images/cc_by.png
  legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode
  name: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0)
  short: CC BY (4.0)
type: journal_article
user_id: 2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
volume: 148
year: '2026'
...