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oai:figshare.com:article/33995995 2026-09-25T15:44:06Z category_1 category_4 category_12 category_14 category_19 category_21 category_24 category_873 category_46 portal_63 item_type_2 month_year_09_2026

Ligand-Shell Softness Directs Symmetry Transitions in Nanotripod Superstructures Yang Liu (4829) Federico Tomazic (17001079) Baixu Zhu (6289847) Yi Wang (32470) Yaxu Zhong (8554674) Jun Chen (4238) Chuanliang Huang (6474767) Michael Engel (727452) Xingchen Ye (1355370) Biophysics Biochemistry Cell Biology Molecular Biology Pharmacology Biotechnology Evolutionary Biology Chemical Sciences not elsewhere classified Immunology tunable design parameter softer effective interactions planar chirality emerges nanotripod superstructures low mediated attractions reproduce convex building blocks step ligand exchange p6 wallpaper symmetries ligand shell architecture experimental phase behavior 3 </ sub 2 </ sub polymer ligand length p6 phase phase selection translational entropy structural motifs range order nanotripods assemble key driver identify competition grafted gd enabling porous compact achiral Low-symmetry, nonconvex nanocrystals offer access to superlattices with structural motifs that are difficult to realize from convex building blocks. Here, we show that polymer-grafted Gd₂O₃ nanotripods assemble into compact achiral and open chiral nanoporous superstructures. By tuning tripod aspect ratio, polymer ligand length, and ligand shell architecture, we direct phase selection among p2, pmg, pgg, and p6 wallpaper symmetries. In the p6 phase, planar chirality emerges through arm-to-arm interlocking. Direct ligand exchange generates mixed ligand shells with softer effective interactions, expanding the accessible phase space beyond that obtained by two-step ligand exchange. Coarse-grained simulations incorporating ligand-mediated attractions reproduce the experimental phase behavior and identify competition between translational entropy and polymer–polymer enthalpic interactions as a key driver of phase selection. These results establish ligand shell softness as a tunable design parameter for coupling nonconvex particle geometry to long-range order, enabling porous and chiral nanocrystal superstructures beyond dense, high-symmetry packing. 2026-09-25T00:00:00Z Dataset Media 10.1021/jacs.6c14044.s003 https://figshare.com/articles/media/Ligand-Shell_Softness_Directs_Symmetry_Transitions_in_Nanotripod_Superstructures/33995995 CC BY-NC 4.0