For two decades, researchers have been preparing solid materials that consist of ordered arrays of nanometre-scale particles. By analogy with atomic lattices, the incorporation of traces of particular nanocrystals into these superlattices might allow the materials' properties to be tailored. On page 450 of this issue, Cargnello et al.1 report the formation of two-dimensional and thin-film superlattices of cadmium selenide (CdSe) or lead selenide (PbSe) nanocrystals that have been 'substitutionally doped' with nanoparticles of gold or gold–silver alloy — that is, controlled amounts of these nanoparticles have been incorporated so that they occupy lattice sites in the host material. The authors find that this does indeed alter the superlattices' properties in potentially useful ways.
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