By recording the super-resolved positions of fluorescent product molecules, we reveal locational heterogeneity on the surface of copper nanowire catalysts with single-particle sensitivity and single-turnover resolution. This unveils a gradient activity along the length of nanowire, a result we found to be due to the underlying gradient of unsaturated surface site density resulting from their linear decay in growth rate during synthesis. Within the nanowire, we observed site-specific activity at different regions, where the ratios between the activity at the end regions and side facets are dependent on the length of the nanowire. Examining the single-molecule turnover rate allows for functional interrogations of nanocatalysts at the nanoscale.

中文翻译：

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超分辨荧光显微镜揭示了单根铜纳米线上的纳米级催化异质性。

通过记录荧光产物分子的超分辨位置，我们揭示了具有单粒子敏感性和单周转分辨率的铜纳米线催化剂表面的位置异质性。这揭示了沿着纳米线长度的梯度活性，我们发现这一结果是由于不饱和表面位点密度的潜在梯度所致，这些不饱和表面位点密度是由于它们在合成过程中生长速率的线性衰减而产生的。在纳米线内，我们观察到了在不同区域的特定于位点的活性，其中末端区域和侧面的活性之比取决于纳米线的长度。检查单分子转化率允许在纳米尺度上对纳米催化剂进行功能询问。