Nanoparticle-assembled interface for tailoring dynamics of chemical reactions

The properties and performance of solid nanomaterials in heterogeneous chemical reactions are significantly influenced by the interface between the nanomaterials and environment. Although researchers have designed and constructed abundant nanomaterials with excellent performances for the tailoring of reaction dynamics, a complete understanding of the mechanism of nanomaterial–environment interfacial interaction remains elusive. Using nanoparticle (NP) assemblies instead of bulk-type nanomaterials may characterise the overall properties to their precise structure and composition. Based on a better understanding of the structure–property correlation, a series of nano-assembled interfaces (ordered self-assembly interfaces and animate nano-assembled interfaces) with various structures have been developed for practical applications. Compared to traditional nanomaterial–environment interfaces, the nano-assembled interface can effectively change the speed, intensity, and mode of interactions between the NP assemblies and environment at spatiotemporal scales. The overall performance of the interfacial dynamics can be improved by the nano-assembled interfaces, thereby facilitating practical applications in complicated systems. Numerous researchers have extended the applications of nano-assembled interfaces from simple adsorption to complex chemical reactions in flowing systems, including in vivo magnetic resonance imaging, electrocatalytic gas evolution reaction, bacterial capture, sensing of exhaled volatile organic compounds, and heterogeneous catalysis. Current endeavours to explore the applicability of animate nano-assembled interfaces for dynamic tailoring have widened the research scope, and the attempts to construct intelligent interfaces for practical applications are underway.