Polymer-template-assisted growth of gold nanowires using a novel flow-stream technique

Langmuir. 2009 Oct 6;25(19):11815-21. doi: 10.1021/la901432j.

Abstract

By utilizing a fluidic device, a gold nanoparticle dispersion is cast onto a nanostructured polymer template using solution subjected to hydrodynamic flow. With in situ grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS), the progressive gold deposition from a stream of gold solution onto the polymer template of a diblock copolymer with parallel cylinder morphology arranged into powder-like domains is investigated. The continuously flowing solution causes a systematic increase in the X-ray contrast between both of the microphase-separated blocks of the block copolymer film, indicating flow-induced selective gold immobilization on one block. Both in situ GISAXS data and atomic force microscopy of the metal-deposited polymer film prove the 1D coalescence of nanoparticles into continuous nanowires. With additional gold nanoparticle upload by the continuous flow-stream method, the selectivity of the nanoparticle deposition diminishes as a result of the formation of a pseudo uniform gold layer. Consequently, this flow-stream deposition technique introduces an easy alternative method to the vapor deposition technique for surface gold nanopatterning.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adsorption
  • Gold / chemistry*
  • Nanowires / chemistry*
  • Polymers / chemistry*
  • Scattering, Small Angle
  • X-Ray Diffraction

Substances

  • Polymers
  • Gold