New Material Insights from Nanoscale Transformations

UChicago researchers explore how covalent materials undergo structural changes at the nanoscale.

Mar. 12, 2026 at 1:24am

Got story updates? Submit your updates here. ›

A team from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering and Chemistry Department has published a paper in Nature Synthesis exploring the role of cation exchange in how covalent materials transform at the nanoscale. Their findings could have applications for designing semiconductors, unraveling chemical processes, and creating new material architectures.

Why it matters

Understanding how materials transform at the nanoscale is crucial for advancing fields like semiconductor design, chemical research, and materials engineering. This work provides new insights into the kinetics and thermodynamics driving structural changes in covalent nanocrystals, which could lead to the discovery of novel nanomaterials.

The details

The researchers observed that under the right conditions, one type of atom can replace another in a nanocrystal while the overall ordered structure is maintained. They found that the cation exchange reaction can start from as few as one of the six surfaces of a cubic nanocrystal, triggering a cascade that ripples through the entire structure. This symmetry-breaking is driven more by reaction kinetics than thermodynamics, in contrast to ionic nanocrystals.

  • The research paper was published on March 11, 2026 in the journal Nature Synthesis.

The players

Paul Alivisatos

Professor at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering and Chemistry Department, and president of the University of Chicago.

Binyu Wu

The first author of the work and a PhD candidate at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering.

Giulia Galli

The Liew Family Professor of Electronic Structure and Simulations in the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering and the Department of Chemistry.

Joseph S. Francisco

The President's Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania.

Got photos? Submit your photos here. ›

What they’re saying

“We observed that under the right conditions, one kind of atom can be replaced with another in a very tiny crystal, even as all the atoms remain in the ordered positions. Once the switch starts at a single point on the surface, the remaining atom swaps cascade across the crystal in an orderly way.”

— Paul Alivisatos, Professor and President, University of Chicago (Mirage News)

“The kinetic-controlled cation exchange reaction can, in principle, start from all six surfaces. However, once it starts from one surface, the rate of starting from the other surfaces will become much, much slower.”

— Binyu Wu, PhD Candidate, University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (Mirage News)

“In general, in the ionic nanocrystal, the thermodynamics would be the main driving force – we can call it a destination – that determine the final structure. But in the covalent system, the chemical bond reconstruction might be more irreversible, so it is more dominated by the reaction kinetics instead of the thermodynamics.”

— Binyu Wu, PhD Candidate, University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (Mirage News)

What’s next

The researchers plan to further explore how their new cellular automaton computational model can be used to simulate and predict the structural transformations of other types of nanocrystals, which could aid in the design and synthesis of novel nanomaterials.

The takeaway

This research provides important new insights into the fundamental science of how covalent materials undergo structural changes at the nanoscale, with potential applications ranging from semiconductor design to the creation of previously unimagined material architectures.