Fabricating the self-supported superstructure of bismuth nanoparticles by tuning the temperature

The self-assembly (SA) of colloidal nanoparticles (NPs) into superstructures provides a versatile and promising method for manipulating the nanometer-sized particles and exploiting their unique features. In pursuit of this objective, researchers have conceived, created, examined, and constructed microscopic entities of diverse intricacy with the intention of facilitating the assembly of desired phases. In this work, a simple method for fabricating a self-supported superstructure of bismuth nanoparticles (Bi NPs) is presented, in which nanoparticles are thermally reshaped into self-assembly from pre-synthesized bismuth nanoparticles. Observations with scanning and transmission electron microscopy revealed that smaller nanoparticles self-assembled anisotropically, followed by nanosheets and nanorods. Further, the anisotropic growth of bismuth nanoparticles increases as the temperature rises due to ligand rearrangement.