Fractal-like gold nanonetworks formed by templated electrodeposition through 3D-mesoporous silica films
Fractal-like gold nanonetworks formed by templated electrodeposition through 3D-mesoporous silica films
Fractal-like networks of gold nanoparticles created by templated electrodeposition are described. Templated electrodeposition is a powerful and efficient technique for the bottom-up fabrication of nanostructures which can effectively control the size and shape of the electrodeposits. In this work, mesoporous silica films with highly ordered mesopores and three-dimensional mesostructure are synthesised and are used as templates for the electrodeposition of gold nanoparticles. The mesoporous silica films have small mesopores (∼8 nm) and complex mesopore channels (Fmmm structure with the [0 1 0] axis perpendicular to the substrate). A variety of nucleation conditions were applied to investigate their effect on the nanoparticles' arrangement and growth in templated electrodeposition. The electrodeposited gold particles are characterised by electron microscopy and grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS). GISAXS shows changes in the lattice parameters of the mesostructure after gold electrodeposition that relate to dimensional changes in directions linked to the shortest distances between the main spherical pores. Top-view SEM shows large areas of gold nanoparticles were deposited into the film and they were growing towards the surface. After removing the silica film templates, the gold nanoparticles display interesting fractal morphologies: the linked gold nanonetworks form a branched structure. The lengths of branches vary from the applied nucleation deposition conditions. Generally, with increasing nucleation time, fractal gold nanoparticles with longer branches are more likely to be obtained.
32660-32671
Shao, Li
e273c42f-6065-40f8-8077-35a0b8a2505a
Moehl, Gilles E.
c3f40572-28c6-4467-a118-502000132f8c
Huang, Ruomeng
c6187811-ef2f-4437-8333-595c0d6ac978
Hector, Andrew L.
f19a8f31-b37f-4474-b32a-b7cf05b9f0e5
31 October 2023
Shao, Li
e273c42f-6065-40f8-8077-35a0b8a2505a
Moehl, Gilles E.
c3f40572-28c6-4467-a118-502000132f8c
Huang, Ruomeng
c6187811-ef2f-4437-8333-595c0d6ac978
Hector, Andrew L.
f19a8f31-b37f-4474-b32a-b7cf05b9f0e5
Shao, Li, Moehl, Gilles E., Huang, Ruomeng and Hector, Andrew L.
(2023)
Fractal-like gold nanonetworks formed by templated electrodeposition through 3D-mesoporous silica films.
RSC Advances, 13 (46), .
(doi:10.1039/d3ra06588j).
Abstract
Fractal-like networks of gold nanoparticles created by templated electrodeposition are described. Templated electrodeposition is a powerful and efficient technique for the bottom-up fabrication of nanostructures which can effectively control the size and shape of the electrodeposits. In this work, mesoporous silica films with highly ordered mesopores and three-dimensional mesostructure are synthesised and are used as templates for the electrodeposition of gold nanoparticles. The mesoporous silica films have small mesopores (∼8 nm) and complex mesopore channels (Fmmm structure with the [0 1 0] axis perpendicular to the substrate). A variety of nucleation conditions were applied to investigate their effect on the nanoparticles' arrangement and growth in templated electrodeposition. The electrodeposited gold particles are characterised by electron microscopy and grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS). GISAXS shows changes in the lattice parameters of the mesostructure after gold electrodeposition that relate to dimensional changes in directions linked to the shortest distances between the main spherical pores. Top-view SEM shows large areas of gold nanoparticles were deposited into the film and they were growing towards the surface. After removing the silica film templates, the gold nanoparticles display interesting fractal morphologies: the linked gold nanonetworks form a branched structure. The lengths of branches vary from the applied nucleation deposition conditions. Generally, with increasing nucleation time, fractal gold nanoparticles with longer branches are more likely to be obtained.
Text
d3ra06588j
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Accepted/In Press date: 30 October 2023
Published date: 31 October 2023
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
The first author was founded by Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC)/University of Southampton Scholarship and is currently founded by EP/T028416/1. This work was supported through the EPSRC programme grant Advanced Devices by ElectroPlaTing (ADEPT: EP/N035437/1). The authors also thank EPSRC for equipment funding (EP/K00509X/1, EP/V007629/1 and EP/K009877/1).
This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.
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Local EPrints ID: 486047
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/486047
ISSN: 2046-2069
PURE UUID: e4fb7966-95b8-40d3-bc10-c456273c9414
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Date deposited: 08 Jan 2024 17:33
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 04:05
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Author:
Li Shao
Author:
Gilles E. Moehl
Author:
Ruomeng Huang
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