Assembly of binary, ternary and quaternary compound semiconductor nanorods: from local to device scale ordering influenced by surface charge

In this article we outline the assembly of binary, ternary and quaternary nanorods using three separate protocols. The rods are the important photoabsorbers CdS, CdSexS1-x, CuInxGa1-xS, and Cu2ZnSnS4. In the droplet based assembly, we form either 1D rail-tracks or 2D discs of aligned rods depending on the net charge. In the vial based approach, we demonstrate crystallisation of rods into perfectly faceted hexagons. Finally we use electrophoretic deposition to assemble the charged rods directly at the substrate interface to obtain thin-films consisting of 50 or more nanorod layers obtained with complete orientational order.