title: Self-assembly of ordered, robust, three-dimensional gold nanocrystal/silica arrays.
abstract: We report the synthesis of a new nanocrystal (NC) mesophase through self-assembly of water-soluble NC micelles with soluble silica. The mesophase comprises gold nanocrystals arranged within a silica matrix in a face-centered cubic lattice with cell dimensions that are adjustable through control of the nanocrystal diameter and/or the alkane chain lengths of the primary alkanethiol stabilizing ligands or the surrounding secondary surfactants. Under kinetically controlled silica polymerization conditions, evaporation drives self-assembly of NC micelles into ordered NC/silica thin-film mesophases during spin coating. The intermediate NC micelles are water soluble and of interest for biolabeling. Initial experiments on a metal-insulator-metal capacitor fabricated with an ordered three-dimensional gold nanocrystal/silica array as the "insulator" demonstrated collective Coulomb blockade behavior below 100 kelvin and established the current-voltage scaling relationship for a well-defined three-dimensional array of Coulomb islands.
authors.affiliation: Sandia National Laboratories, Chemical Synthesis and Nanomaterials Department, Advanced Materials Laboratory, 1001 University Boulevard SE, Albuquerque, NM 87106, USA. hfan@sandia.gov
authors.forename: Hongyou
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Daniel M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Boye
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sigmon
authors.forename: Kevin J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Malloy
authors.forename: Huifang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Gabriel P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: López
authors.forename: C Jeffrey
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Brinker