Tunable porous nanoallotropes prepared by post-assembly etching of binary nanoparticle superlattices

Non–close-packed nanoparticle arrays Films of colloidal nanoparticles usually form dense, close-packed lattices. If binary lattices could be made and one component removed, then a more open array could form, as long as the remaining nanoparticles could be stabilized. Udayabhaskararao et al. formed binary superlattices of gold and magnetite nanoparticles at an air-liquid interface that could then be transferred to carbon-coated surfaces (see the Perspective by Kotov). Selective etching of either of the nanoparticles created non–close-packed arrays with vacancies stabilized by the carbon surface. Science , this issue p. 514 ; see also p. 448