Electrospraying of colloidal nanoparticles for seeding of nanostructure growth

Abstract

Nanometre-sized particles (1–100 nm) have unique properties receiving growing attention in wide areas of research. Here, a convenient method to deposit size-selected nanoparticles on surfaces by means of electrospraying colloidal suspensions in the aerosol phase is presented. We demonstrate the deposition of individual nanoparticles and the feasibility of this method in seeding gold particles for nanostructure growth. An advantage of the present method is the easy set-up and operation, using only commercially available machinery and substances. Problems regarding low deposition rates and colloidal remnants are approached, e.g. the aerosol flow is examined in a differential mobility analyser. This method is not material dependent and could be extended to deposit any colloidal particle.

A comparative study of the effect of gold seed particle preparation method on nanowire growth

“…Colloid particles from commercially available colloidal solutions (British Biocell International) were deposited by two different methods: the direct deposition method and the electrospray method [9]. For the direct deposition method, the substrates were first covered with a 0.1% poly-L-lysine (PLL) solution for 1 min and rinsed with deionized water (DIW) in order to ensure adhesion of the particles to the substrate by electrostatic interactions [4].…”

“…These residues are expected to change the surface properties of both the particles and the substrate, which might influence the surface diffusion of growth species as well as the incorporation of growth species into the particles, and hence result in longer incubation times. Although most of the residues are expected to evaporate during the annealing and/or growth step [9], some residues might remain thus slowing down the incubation process. In addition carbon remnants may still surround the particles.…”

Narrow size distribution nanoparticle production by electrospray processing of ferritin

“…Post-electrospray heating was used to remove the protein-coat from ferritin, leaving residual nanoparticles whose chemical composition can be controlled by using previously described liquid-phase synthesis procedures as well as heating within the furnace with different bath gases. For detection by electron microscopy or photon correlation spectroscopy, aerosol particles can be deposited on a substrate or collected in liquids using previously described techniques (Bottger et al, 2007;Krinke, Fissan, Deppert, Magnusson, & Samuelson, 2001;Weber et al, 2001).…”

Electrostatic deposition of nanothin films on metal substrate

“…3. Gold or silver nanoparticles were deposited as nanowires for nanoelectronic applications [13,[35][36][37][38]. 4.…”