Fig. 3: In-liquid structures of NP cluster architectures revealed by in situ SAXS.

a Extracted structure factor S(q) from in situ SAXS for designed clusters with the following meshframe valence numbers (from bottom to top): two (black), three (red), four (blue), five (magenta), and six (green), respectively. Fitted S(q), as discussed in the text, are shown by orange curves. b Interparticle distances derived from SAXS (squares) for NP clusters: d₁ = 68.4 nm for dumbbell cluster, d₂ = 58.0 nm for triangular cluster, d₁ = 68.3 nm and d₃ = 47.4 nm for square cluster, d₁ = 67.9 nm, d₂ = 58.2 nm and d₃ = 46.8 nm for TBP cluster, d₁ = 67.6 nm and d₃ = 47.3 nm for octahedral cluster. Interparticle distances computed for the designed architectures (dash lines): d₁ = 64.8 nm, d₂ = 56.1 nm, and d₃ = 45.8 nm.