title: Conductive gold nanoparticle mirrors at liquid/liquid interfaces.
abstract: Gold nanoparticle (Au NP) mirrors, which exhibit both high reflectance and electrical conductance, were self-assembled at a [heptane + 1,2-dichloroethane]/water liquid/liquid interface. The highest reflectance, as observed experimentally and confirmed by finite difference time domain calculations, occurred for Au NP films consisting of 60 nm diameter NPs and approximate monolayer surface coverage. Scanning electrochemical microscopy approach curves over the interfacial metallic NP films revealed a transition from an insulating to a conducting electrical material on reaching a surface coverage at least equivalent to the formation of a single monolayer. Reflectance and conductance transitions were interpreted as critical junctures corresponding to a surface coverage that exceeded the percolation threshold of the Au NP films at the [heptane + 1,2-dichloroethane]/water interface.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Electrochimie Physique et Analytique, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne , Station 6, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Ping-Ping
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.forename: Shu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Haiqiang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.forename: Micheál D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Scanlon
authors.forename: Frédéric
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gumy
authors.forename: Hye Jin
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Dmitry
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Momotenko
authors.forename: Véronique
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Amstutz
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cortés-Salazar
authors.forename: Carlos M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.forename: Zhilin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Hubert H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Girault