Publication date: 15th May 2025
Atomically precise nanomaterials offer a unique platform to uncover structure–property relationships and enable bottom-up design strategies in nanochemistry. Tracking the structural evolution of colloidal nanocrystals (NCs) is central to understanding such precision at the atomic level and inspires mechanistic exploration in material chemistry. NCs architecture via phase transformation unravels chemical and physical determinants that drive lattice-scale dynamics, such as cation exchange (CE). In this work, we employed NCs to demonstrate the CE process within well-retained nanocubes. The symmetry change in unit cell can be adapted by a schematic cellular automaton. The strong covalent characteristics of III-V materials highlight the kinetic control that tailors the CE profile into either anisotropic or isotropic pathways. This complex chemical bond reconstruction reflects a form of precise chemistry and is envisioned as the foundation of rational, atomic-level nanocrystal synthesis.