title: Enhanced Mechanical Stability of Gold Nanotips through Carbon Nanocone Encapsulation.
abstract: Gold is a noble metal that, in comparison with silver and copper, has the advantage of corrosion resistance. Despite its high conductivity, chemical stability and biocompatibility, gold exhibits high plasticity, which limits its applications in some nanodevices. Here, we report an experimental and theoretical study on how to attain enhanced mechanical stability of gold nanotips. The gold tips were fabricated by chemical etching and further encapsulated with carbon nanocones via nanomanipulation. Atomic force microscopy experiments were carried out to test their mechanical stability. Molecular dynamics simulations show that the encapsulated nanocone changes the strain release mechanisms at the nanoscale by blocking gold atomic sliding, redistributing the strain along the whole nanostructure. The carbon nanocones are conducting and can induce magnetism, thus opening new avenues on the exploitation of transport, mechanical and magnetic properties of gold covered by sp(2) carbon at the nanoscale.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física, ICEx, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, 31270-901, Brazil.|Materials Research Institute, N-261 Millennium Science Complex, Penn State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
authors.forename: Abraham G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Cano-Marquez
authors.affiliation: Centro de Microscopia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, 30123-970, Brazil.
authors.forename: Wesller G
authors.initials: WG
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física, ICEx, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, 31270-901, Brazil.
authors.forename: Jenaina
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ribeiro-Soares
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física, ICEx, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, 31270-901, Brazil.
authors.forename: Luiz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gustavo Cançado
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física, ICEx, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, 31270-901, Brazil.
authors.forename: Wagner N
authors.initials: WN
authors.lastname: Rodrigues
authors.affiliation: Centro de Desenvolvimento da Tecnologia Nuclear, Belo Horizonte, MG, 31270-010, Brazil.
authors.forename: Adelina P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.affiliation: Centro de Desenvolvimento da Tecnologia Nuclear, Belo Horizonte, MG, 31270-010, Brazil.
authors.forename: Clascidia A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Furtado
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Física 'Gleb Wataghin', Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, SP, 13083-970, Brazil.
authors.forename: Pedro A S
authors.initials: PAS
authors.lastname: Autreto
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física, IGCE, Universidade Estadual Paulista - UNESP, Rio Claro, SP, 13506-900, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Paupitz
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Física 'Gleb Wataghin', Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, SP, 13083-970, Brazil.
authors.forename: Douglas S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Galvão
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física, ICEx, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, 31270-901, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ado
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jorio