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Large triangular single crystals formed by mild annealing of self-organized silver nanocrystals

Nature Materials volume 6, pages 900–907 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Nanocrystal organizations represent a new generation of materials with specific properties compared with those of isolated nanocrystals and of the bulk material. Here, we present the first intrinsic crystalline growth properties of highly ordered mono- and multilayers of 5 nm silver nanocrystals. Triangular single crystals with face-centred-cubic structures are obtained by annealing the ordered nanocrystals under atmospheric pressure at 50 ∘C. The triangles are mixed with well-crystallized coalesced particles of various shapes. Their size depends on the initial nanocrystal ordering range on the substrate, which is local on amorphous carbon and highly extended on highly oriented pyrolitic graphite (HOPG). Hence, the single-crystal size is larger on HOPG than on amorphous carbon. These observations show that the crystalline growth properties of silver nanocrystals can be tailored by controlling their organization. Furthermore, on HOPG an epitaxial orientation of the triangles is observed.

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Figure 1: 2D and 3D silver nanocrystal organizations on amorphous carbon: effect of annealing time.
Figure 2: 2D and 3D silver nanocrystal organizations on HOPG: effect of annealing time.
Figure 3: Electron diffraction patterns of triangular silver particles on HOPG.
Figure 4: TEM images of annealing time effects on the triangular silver single-crystal formation on HOPG.
Figure 5: Coalescence of silver nanocrystals on HOPG.
Figure 6

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Acknowledgements

We thank for fruitful discussions: Z. L. Wang of Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA; P.-A. Albouy of the laboratory ‘Physique des Solides’ University of Paris XI, Orsay, France and F. Charra of the laboratory ‘Etudes des Propriétés aux Echelles Nanométriques’ (LEPMEN-SPCI), CEA, Saclay, France. We also thank D. Parker of the laboratory ‘Matériaux Mésoscopiques et Nanométriques’ for checking the English in this paper.

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  1. Laboratoire des Matériaux Mesoscopiques et Nanométriques (LM2N), UMR CNRS 7070, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, bât F, BP 52, 4 place Jussieu, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France

    A. Courty, A.-I. Henry, N. Goubet & M.-P. Pileni

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Courty, A., Henry, AI., Goubet, N. et al. Large triangular single crystals formed by mild annealing of self-organized silver nanocrystals. Nature Mater 6, 900–907 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2004

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