Light-induced dynamics of a dodecanethiol-capped gold nanoparticles supracrystal revealed by ultrafast small-angle electron diffraction

We use ultrafast small-angle electron diffraction combined with angular crosscorrelation analysis to characterize simultaneously the static local order and the dynamics of a glassy dodecanethiol-capped gold nanoparticles supracrystal. We demonstrate that the 12-carbon atoms ligand chains attached to the gold nano-particle facets have a preferential order at equilibrium and that an ultrafast excitation by light pulses serves as an external control parameter inducing self-organization among the ligands.