Emergence of cobalt oxide nano-assemblies: X-ray in situ studies bridging the molecular- and macro- length scales

The key to fabricate complex, hierarchical materials is the control of chemical reactions at various length scales. The classical model of nucleation and growth fails to provide sufficient information. Here, we illustrate how modern X-ray spectroscopic and scattering in situ studies bridge the molecular- and macro- length scales for an assembly of CoO polyhedral shape nanocrystals. By combining high energy-resolution fluorescence-detected X-ray absorption near edge structure (HERFD-XANES) measurements and FEFF simulation, we directly access the molecular level of the reaction. We reveal that initially Co(acac)3 rapidly reduces to Co(acac)2 and coordinates to oxygen atoms of two solvent molecules, forming a bis-adduct of the square-planar Co(acac)2 with octahedral coordination. Unlike a classical nucleation and growth mechanism, we observe that nuclie as small as 2 nm assemble into superstructures of 20 nm. The individual nanoparticles and assemblies continue growing at a similar pace. The final assemblies are smaller than 100 nm and maintain their spherical shape, while the nanoparticles reach a size of 6 nm and adopt various polyhedral, edgy shapes. Our work thus provides a comprehensive perspective on the emergence of nano-assemblies in solution