Determination of the size distribution of metallic nanoparticles by optical extinction spectroscopy.
A method is proposed to estimate the size distribution of nearly spherical metallic nanoparticles (NPs) from optical extinction spectroscopy (OES) measurements based on Mie's theory and an optimization algorithm. The described method is compared against two of the most widely used techniques for the task: transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS). The size distribution of Au and Cu NPs, obtained by ion implantation in silica and a subsequent thermal annealing in air, was determined by TEM, grazing-incidence SAXS (GISAXS) geometry, and our method, and the average radius obtained by all the three techniques was almost the same for the two studied metals. Concerning the radius dispersion (RD), OES and GISAXS give very similar results, while TEM considerably underestimates the RD of the distribution.
Peña
Ovidio
O
Instituto de Investigaciones en Materiales, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito Exterior S/N, Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacan, C.P. 04510, México, DF, México. ovidio@bytesfall.com
Rodríguez-Fernández
Luis
L
Rodríguez-Iglesias
Vladimir
V
Kellermann
Guinther
G
Crespo-Sosa
Alejandro
A
Cheang-Wong
Juan Carlos
JC
Silva-Pereyra
Héctor Gabriel
HG
Arenas-Alatorre
Jesús
J
Oliver
Alicia
A
D000465:Algorithms; D003300:Copper / Q000737:chemistry; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry*; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D015233:Models, Statistical; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D016011:Normal Distribution; D055095:Optics and Photonics; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D013057:Spectrum Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D055672:Static Electricity; D014965:X-Rays
D006046:Gold; D003300:Copper