Conductive properties of foam and cluster structures created from hexanthiol-passivated gold nanoparticles

• Published in: Applied surface science 2009-04, Vol.255 (12), p.6164-6167
• Main Authors: Plaza, J.L., Carcelén, V.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Clusters, nanoparticles, and nanocrystalline materials; Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Electronic structure and electrical properties of surfaces, interfaces, thin films and low-dimensional structures; Electronic transport in mesoscopic or nanoscale materials and structures; Electronic transport in multilayers, nanoscale materials and structures; Exact sciences and technology; Gold nanoparticles; Materials science; Nanofoams; Nanomaterials; Nanoscale materials: clusters, nanoparticles, nanotubes, and nanocrystals; Passivation; Physics; Structure of solids and liquids; crystallography; Surface treatments
• ISSN: 0169-4332; 1873-5584
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2009.01.093

The study of hexanethiol-passivated gold nanoparticles is reported. Depending on the age of the solution two kind of structures are obtained, “foam-like” in fresh solution and “cluster-like” few weeks after the solution preparation. Both kind of structures have been studied regarding to their structural and electrical properties. The cluster-like structures have shown lower electrical resistivity compared to foam-like ones. Some other factors like sonication, have shown to have no effect on the formation of one or another kind of structure.