Single Crystal and Pentatwinned Gold Nanorods Result in Chiral Nanocrystals with Reverse Handedness

Abstract

Handedness is an essential attribute of chiral nanocrystals, having a major influence on their properties. During chemical growth, the handedness of nanocrystals is usually tuned by selecting the corresponding enantiomer of chiral molecules involved in asymmetric growth, often known as chiral inducers. We report that, even using the same chiral inducer enantiomer, the handedness of chiral gold nanocrystals can be reversed by using Au nanorod seeds with either single crystalline or pentatwinned structure. This effect holds for chiral growth induced both by amino acids and by chiral micelles. Although it was challenging to discern the morphological handedness for L-cystine-directed particles, even using electron tomography, both cases showed circular dichroism bands of opposite sign, with nearly mirrored chiroptical signatures for chiral micelle-directed growth, along with quasi-helical wrinkles of inverted handedness. These results expand the chiral growth toolbox with an effect that might be exploited to yield a host of interesting morphologies with tunable optical properties.