Manipulation of nanoparticles of different shapes inside a scanning electron microscope

Boris Polyakov; Sergei Vlassov; Leonid M Dorogin; Jelena Butikova; Mikk Antsov; Sven Oras; Rünno Lõhmus; Ilmar Kink

doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.13

Manipulation of nanoparticles of different shapes inside a scanning electron microscope

Beilstein J Nanotechnol. 2014 Feb 5:5:133-40. doi: 10.3762/bjnano.5.13. eCollection 2014.

Authors

Boris Polyakov¹, Sergei Vlassov², Leonid M Dorogin³, Jelena Butikova¹, Mikk Antsov³, Sven Oras³, Rünno Lõhmus³, Ilmar Kink³

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia, Kengaraga 8, LV-1063, Riga, Latvia.
² Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia, Kengaraga 8, LV-1063, Riga, Latvia ; Institute of Physics, University of Tartu, Riia 142, 51014, Tartu, Estonia ; Estonian Nanotechnology Competence Center, Riia 142, 51014, Tartu, Estonia.
³ Institute of Physics, University of Tartu, Riia 142, 51014, Tartu, Estonia ; Estonian Nanotechnology Competence Center, Riia 142, 51014, Tartu, Estonia.

Abstract

In this work polyhedron-like gold and sphere-like silver nanoparticles (NPs) were manipulated on an oxidized Si substrate to study the dependence of the static friction and the contact area on the particle geometry. Measurements were performed inside a scanning electron microscope (SEM) that was equipped with a high-precision XYZ-nanomanipulator. To register the occurring forces a quartz tuning fork (QTF) with a glued sharp probe was used. Contact areas and static friction forces were calculated by using different models and compared with the experimentally measured force. The effect of NP morphology on the nanoscale friction is discussed.

Keywords: contact mechanics; nanomanipulation; nanoparticles; nanotribology; scanning electron microscopy (SEM).