title: Control of single-electron charging of metallic nanoparticles onto amorphous silicon surface.
abstract: Sequential single-electron charging of iron oxide nanoparticles encapsulated in oleic acid/oleyl amine envelope and deposited by the Langmuir-Blodgett technique onto Pt electrode covered with undoped hydrogenated amorphous silicon film is reported. Single-electron charging (so-called quantized double-layer charging) of nanoparticles is detected by cyclic voltammetry as current peaks and the charging effect can be switched on/off by the electric field in the surface region induced by the excess of negative/positive charged defect states in the amorphous silicon layer. The particular charge states in amorphous silicon are created by the simultaneous application of a suitable bias voltage and illumination before the measurement. The influence of charged states on the electric field in the surface region is evaluated by the finite element method. The single-electron charging is analyzed by the standard quantized double layer model as well as two weak-link junctions model. Both approaches are in accordance with experiment and confirm single-electron charging by tunnelling process at room temperature. This experiment illustrates the possibility of the creation of a voltage-controlled capacitor for nanotechnology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, Slovak University of Technology, SK-81219 Bratislava, Slovak Republic.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Weis
authors.forename: Katarína
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gmucová
authors.forename: Vojtech
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Nádazdy
authors.forename: Ignác
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Capek
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Satka
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kopáni
authors.forename: Július
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cirák
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Majková
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D003460:Crystallization / Q000379:methods*; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D004563:Electrochemistry / Q000379:methods*; D004583:Electrons; D046911:Macromolecular Substances / Q000737:chemistry; D008422:Materials Testing; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D010316:Particle Size; D010984:Platinum / Q000737:chemistry*; D012825:Silicon / Q000737:chemistry*; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D010984:Platinum; D012825:Silicon