Autonomous nanoparticle synthesis by design
This work addresses the problem of inefficient, trial-and-error synthesis for materials scientists, offering a potentially revolutionary approach for on-demand materials design, though it appears incremental as it builds on existing scattering techniques.
The researchers tackled the challenge of synthesizing nanoparticles with specific atomic structures by introducing an autonomous method that designs synthesis protocols using real-time experimental data matched to simulated target patterns, successfully synthesizing two distinct gold nanoparticle structures (5 nm decahedral and 10 nm face-centered cubic).
Controlled synthesis of materials with specified atomic structures underpins technological advances yet remains reliant on iterative, trial-and-error approaches. Nanoparticles (NPs), whose atomic arrangement dictates their emergent properties, are particularly challenging to synthesise due to numerous tunable parameters. Here, we introduce an autonomous approach explicitly targeting synthesis of atomic-scale structures. Our method autonomously designs synthesis protocols by matching real time experimental total scattering (TS) and pair distribution function (PDF) data to simulated target patterns, without requiring prior synthesis knowledge. We demonstrate this capability at a synchrotron, successfully synthesising two structurally distinct gold NPs: 5 nm decahedral and 10 nm face-centred cubic structures. Ultimately, specifying a simulated target scattering pattern, thus representing a bespoke atomic structure, and obtaining both the synthesised material and its reproducible synthesis protocol on demand may revolutionise materials design. Thus, ScatterLab provides a generalisable blueprint for autonomous, atomic structure-targeted synthesis across diverse systems and applications.