Channeling motion of gold nanospheres on a rippled glassed surface.
Gold nanospheres have been manipulated by atomic force microscopy on a rippled glass surface produced by ion beam sputtering and coated with an ultrathin (10 nm thick) graphitic layer. This substrate is characterized by irregular wavy grooves running parallel to a preferential direction. Measurements in ambient conditions show that the motion of the nanoparticles is confined to single grooves ('channels'), along which the particles move till they are trapped by local bottlenecks. At this point, the particles cross the ripple pattern in a series of consecutive jumps and continue their longitudinal motion along a different channel. Moreover, due to the asymmetric shape of the ripple profiles, the jumps occur in the direction of minimum slope, resembling a ratchet mechanism. Our results are discussed, extending a collisional model, which was recently developed for the manipulation of nanospheres on flat surfaces, to the specific geometry of this problem.
Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados en Nanociencia (IMDEA Nanociencia), Campus Universitario de Cantoblanco, Calle Faraday 9, 28049 Madrid, Spain.
Enrico
E
Gnecco
Pawel
P
Nita
Santiago
S
Casado
Carlos
C
Pimentel
Karine
K
Mougin
Maria Caterina
MC
Giordano
Diego
D
Repetto
Francesco Buatier
FB
de Mongeot