Publication date: 15th December 2025
Comprehending light-induced functionality in 2D superlattices of ligand-capped nanoparticles requires the direct observation of their interaction with light, in order to disentangle the complex interplay between electronic and structural degrees of freedom across a broad range of length scales, from building-blocks to their longer-range arrangement. Addressing these challenges critically needs new techniques capable of imaging with high spatial and temporal resolution, capable of achieving contrast to: core morphology (size, porosity, assembly), and ligand shells (distribution and composition).
Here, we present an Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) Ultrafast Microscope relying on a technique for Coherent Diffractive Imaging called Ptychography, which is capable of full-field imaging with diffraction-limited spatial resolution, with sensitivity to both material quantitative composition (amplitude) and morphological (phase) contrast.
We establish a robust protocol for 2D nanoparticle superlattices capable to visualize core morphology, orientational distribution, porosity. Moreover, we obtain contrast between the organic ligand shells and the core, showing that the ligand orientational distribution is directly linked to the surface morphology of the cores.
G.F.M. gratefully acknowledges support from: the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program G.A. no. 851154 (ULTRAIMAGE), ERC Proof of concept 101123123 (HYPER); Fondazione Cariplo 2020-2544 (NANOFAST); Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR) FARE – grant R207A8MNNJ – PiXiE and PRIN 2022 2022PR7CCY DynaMAT.
nanoGe is a prestigious brand of successful science conferences that are developed along the year in different areas of the world since 2009. Our worldwide conferences cover cutting-edge materials topics like perovskite solar cells, photovoltaics, optoelectronics, solar fuel conversion, surface science, catalysis and two-dimensional materials, among many others.
Previously nanoGe Spring Meeting (NSM) and nanoGe Fall Meeting (NFM), MATSUS is a multiple symposia conference focused on a broad set of topics of advanced materials preparation, their fundamental properties, and their applications, in fields such as renewable energy, photovoltaics, lighting, semiconductor quantum dots, 2-D materials synthesis, charge carriers dynamics, microscopy and spectroscopy semiconductors fundamentals, etc.
International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics
International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics (HOPV) is celebrated yearly in May. The main topics are the development, function and modeling of materials and devices for hybrid and organic solar cells. The field is now dominated by perovskite solar cells but also other hybrid technologies, as organic solar cells, quantum dot solar cells, and dye-sensitized solar cells and their integration into devices for photoelectrochemical solar fuel production.
Asia-Pacific International Conference on Perovskite, Organic Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics
The main topics of the Asia-Pacific International Conference on Perovskite, Organic Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics (IPEROP) are discussed every year in Asia-Pacific for gathering the recent advances in the fields of material preparation, modeling and fabrication of perovskite and hybrid and organic materials. Photovoltaic devices are analyzed from fundamental physics and materials properties to a broad set of applications. The conference also covers the developments of perovskite optoelectronics, including light-emitting diodes, lasers, optical devices, nanophotonics, nonlinear optical properties, colloidal nanostructures, photophysics and light-matter coupling.
The International Conference on Perovskite Thin Film Photovoltaics Perovskite Photonics and Optoelectronics (NIPHO) is the best place to hear the latest developments in perovskite solar cells as well as on recent advances in the fields of perovskite light-emitting diodes, lasers, optical devices, nanophotonics, nonlinear optical properties, colloidal nanostructures, photophysics and light-matter coupling.