title: Size-Dependent Penetration of Gold Nanoclusters through a Defect-Free, Nonporous NaCl Membrane.
abstract: Membranes and their size-selective filtering properties are universal in nature and their behavior is exploited to design artificial membranes suited for, e.g., molecule or nanoparticle filtering and separation. Exploring and understanding penetration and transmission mechanisms of nanoparticles in thin-film systems may provide new opportunities for size selective deposition or embedding of the nanoparticles. Here, we demonstrate an unexpected finding that the sieving of metal nanoparticles through atomically thin nonporous alkali halide films on a metal support is size dependent and that this sieving effect can be tuned via the film thickness. Specifically, relying on scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy techniques, combined with density functional theory calculations, we find that defect-free NaCl films on a Au(111) support act as size-dependent membranes for deposited Au nanoclusters. The observed sieving ability is found to originate from a driving force toward the metal support and from the dynamics of both the nanoparticles and the alkali halide films.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Solid-State Physics and Magnetism, KU Leuven , Celestijnenlaan 200 d, box 2414, BE-3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Zhe
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienza dei Materiali, Università di Milano-Bicocca , Via Cozzi 55, I-20125 Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Hsin-Yi Tiffany
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Solid-State Physics and Magnetism, KU Leuven , Celestijnenlaan 200 d, box 2414, BE-3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Koen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Schouteden
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Solid-State Physics and Magnetism, KU Leuven , Celestijnenlaan 200 d, box 2414, BE-3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Picot
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Solid-State Physics and Magnetism, KU Leuven , Celestijnenlaan 200 d, box 2414, BE-3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Kelly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Houben
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Solid-State Physics and Magnetism, KU Leuven , Celestijnenlaan 200 d, box 2414, BE-3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Ting-Wei
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Solid-State Physics and Magnetism, KU Leuven , Celestijnenlaan 200 d, box 2414, BE-3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Van Haesendonck
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienza dei Materiali, Università di Milano-Bicocca , Via Cozzi 55, I-20125 Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Gianfranco
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pacchioni
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Solid-State Physics and Magnetism, KU Leuven , Celestijnenlaan 200 d, box 2414, BE-3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lievens
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Solid-State Physics and Magnetism, KU Leuven , Celestijnenlaan 200 d, box 2414, BE-3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Ewald
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Janssens
keywords: Metal nanoparticle filtering; penetration and transmission mechanisms; size-dependent membrane; thin nonporous alkali halide film