title: Layer-by-layer assembled gold nanoparticle films on amine-terminated substrates.
abstract: This work reports the fabrication and characterization of multilayered gold nanoparticle (AuNP) thin films on aminosilane functionalized substrates. The films are fabricated via layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly using as-synthesized, un-modified AuNPs and poly(allylamine hydrochloride) as the building blocks. While most literature reports that AuNP based LbL assemblies are constructed with a single interlayer binding force, this work shows that both coordination and electrostatic interaction are involved in the process of assembly based on X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic results. The stepwise film growth behavior is demonstrated by atomic force spectroscopy and UV-vis spectroscopy. It is found that the particles agglomerate with each other and form large clusters when the number of assembled layers increases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117576, Singapore. fx-zhang@imre.a-star.edu.sg
authors.forename: Fengxiang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Srinivasan