Volume 64, Issue 28 e202505637
Research Article

Spatially Engineering the Internal Microstructure of a Single Crystal via Nanoparticle Occlusion

Bing Yu

Bing Yu

College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Coordination Chemistry, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632 China

These authors contributed equally to this work.

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Pei Liu

Pei Liu

College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Coordination Chemistry, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632 China

These authors contributed equally to this work.

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Jingjing He

Jingjing He

College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Coordination Chemistry, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632 China

These authors contributed equally to this work.

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Xiaojie Li

Xiaojie Li

College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Coordination Chemistry, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632 China

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Xia Sun

Xia Sun

College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Coordination Chemistry, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632 China

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Boxiang Peng

Boxiang Peng

College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Coordination Chemistry, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632 China

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Jiahao Zhang

Jiahao Zhang

College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Coordination Chemistry, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632 China

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Prof. Yin Ning

Corresponding Author

Prof. Yin Ning

College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Coordination Chemistry, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632 China

E-mail: [email protected]

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First published: 02 May 2025

Graphical Abstract

The spatially controlled occlusion of polymeric nanoparticles into cuprous oxide (Cu2O) systematically alters lattice distortion, oxygen vacancy content, and catalytic efficiency in the resulting composite crystals, offering a robust framework for the development of advanced functional composite materials.

Abstract

Single crystals are characterized by their continuous, highly ordered atomic lattices. Therefore, introducing impurities or structural defects into their matrices presents a major challenge, particularly in a spatially-controlled manner. Herein, we demonstrate a nanoparticle occlusion approach that enables the microstructure of cuprous oxide (Cu2O) single crystals to be engineered in a tunable way. This is achieved by directly incorporating poly(glycerol monomethacrylate)51-block-poly(benzyl methacrylate)100 [G51-B100] diblock copolymer nanoparticles into growing Cu2O crystals, leading to the formation of G51-B100@Cu2O composite crystals with structural defects localized at the G51-B100/Cu2O interfaces. The spatial distribution of these defects can be systematically engineered, ranging from the surface region to the entire crystal. Remarkably, the G51-B100 occlusion endows the resulting composite crystals with excellent catalytic performance in dye degradation under dark conditions, with activity correlated to the extent of nanoparticle occlusion. This study offers a unique strategy to create interfacial defects in single crystals, imparting emerging functionalities to the resulting composites.

Conflict of Interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available in the Supporting Information of this article

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