title: Nanoparticle clusters with Lennard-Jones geometries.
abstract: Noble gas and metal atoms form minimum-energy clusters. Here, we present analogous agglomerates of gold nanoparticles formed in oil-in-water emulsions. We exclude interfacial templating and nucleation-and-growth as formation mechanisms of these supraparticles. Similar to atomic clusters, the supraparticles form when a mobile precursor state can reconfigure until the nanoparticles' interactions with each other and with the liquid-liquid interface are maximized. This formation mechanism is in striking contrast to that previously reported for microparticle clusters.
authors.affiliation: Structure Formation Group, INM - Leibniz-Institute for New Materials, Campus D2 2, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany.
authors.forename: Johann
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lacava
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Born
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kraus
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D005740:Gases / Q000737:chemistry*; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D010316:Particle Size
chemical_list: D005740:Gases