Coerced mechanical coarsening of nanoparticle assemblies

ABSTRACT Coarsening is a ubiquitous phenomenon1,2,3 that underpins countless processes in nature, including epitaxial growth1,3,4, the phase separation of alloys, polymers and binary

fluids2, the growth of bubbles in foams5, and pattern formation in biomembranes6. Here we show, in the first real-time experimental study of the evolution of an adsorbed colloidal

nanoparticle array, that tapping-mode atomic force microscopy (TM-AFM) can drive the coarsening of Au nanoparticle assemblies on silicon surfaces. Although the growth exponent has a strong

dependence on the initial sample morphology, our observations are largely consistent with modified Ostwald ripening processes7,8,9. To date, ripening processes have been exclusively

considered to be thermally activated, but we show that nanoparticle assemblies can be mechanically coerced towards equilibrium, representing a new approach to directed coarsening. This

strategy enables precise control over the evolution of micro- and nanostructures. Access through your institution Buy or subscribe This is a preview of subscription content, access via your

institution ACCESS OPTIONS Access through your institution Subscribe to this journal Receive 12 print issues and online access $259.00 per year only $21.58 per issue Learn more Buy this

article * Purchase on SpringerLink * Instant access to full article PDF Buy now Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout ADDITIONAL ACCESS OPTIONS: * Log in

* Learn about institutional subscriptions * Read our FAQs * Contact customer support SIMILAR CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS IMAGING HOW THERMAL CAPILLARY WAVES AND ANISOTROPIC INTERFACIAL

STIFFNESS SHAPE NANOPARTICLE SUPRACRYSTALS Article Open access 11 September 2020 ENGINEERING AND DIRECT IMAGING OF NANOCUBE SELF-ASSEMBLY PATHWAYS Article 06 August 2024 SPONTANEOUS

ORGANIZATION OF SUPRACOLLOIDS INTO THREE-DIMENSIONAL STRUCTURED MATERIALS Article 28 January 2021 REFERENCES * Domb, C & Lebowitz, J. L. (eds) _Phase Transitions and Critical Phenomena_

Vol. 3 (Academic, New York, 1983). * Furukawa, H. A dynamic scaling assumption for phase separation. _Adv. Phys._ 34, 703–750 (1985). Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Bray, A. J. Coarsening

dynamics of phase-separating systems. _Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A_ 361, 781–791 (2003). Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Zinke-Allmang, M. Phase separation on solid surfaces: nucleation,

coarsening, and coalesence kinetics. _Thin Solid Films_ 346, 1–68 (1999). Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Glazier, J. A. & Weaire, D. The kinetics of cellular patterns. _J. Phys._ 4,

1867–1894 (1992). Google Scholar  * John, K. & Bar, M. Alternative mechanisms of structuring biomembranes: Self-assembly versus self-organisation. _Phys. Rev. Lett._ 95, 198101 (2005).

Article  Google Scholar  * Huse, D. A. Corrections to late-stage behaviour in spinodal decomposition: Lifshitz–Slyozov scaling and Monte Carlo simulations. _Phys. Rev. B_ 34, 7845–7850

(1986). Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Ernst, H.-J., Fabre, F. & Lapujoulade, J. Observation of dynamic scaling in ‘spinodal decomposition’ in two dimensions. _Phys. Rev. Lett._ 69,

458–461 (1992). Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Conti, M., Meerson, B., Peleg, A. & Sasorov, P. V. Phase ordering with a global conservation law: Ostwald ripening and coalescence. _Phys.

Rev. E_ 65, 046117 (2002). Article  Google Scholar  * Ge, G. & Brus, L. Evidence for spinodal phase separation in two-dimensional nanocrystal self-assembly. _J. Phys. Chem. B_ 104,

9573–9575 (2000). Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Rabani, E., Reichman, D. R., Geissler, P. L. & Brus, L. E. Drying-mediated self-assembly of nanoparticles. _Nature_ 426, 271–274 (2003).

Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Moriarty, P., Taylor, M. D. R. & Brust, M. Nanostructured cellular networks. _Phys. Rev. Lett._ 89, 248303 (2002). Article  CAS  Google Scholar  *

Martin, C. P., Blunt, M. O. & Moriarty, P. Nanoparticle networks on silicon: self-organized or disorganized? _Nano Lett._ 4, 2389–2392 (2004). Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Narayanan,

S., Wang. J & Lin, X.-M. Dynamical self-assembly of nanocrystal superlattices during colloidal droplet evaporation by in situ small angle X-ray scattering. _Phys. Rev. Lett._ 93, 135503

(2004). Article  Google Scholar  * Bigioni, T. P. et al. Kinetically driven self assembly of highly ordered nanoparticle monolayers. _Nature Mater._ 5, 265–270 (2006). Article  CAS  Google

Scholar  * Sztrum, C. G. & Rabani, E. Out-of-equilibrium self-assembly of binary mixtures of nanoparticles. _Adv. Mater._ 18, 565–571 (2006). Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Ostwald, W.

Z. _Phys. Chem._ 37, 385 (1901). Google Scholar  * Wagner, C. Theorie dealtering von Niederschlagen durch umlösen _Z_. _Elektrochem._ 65, 581 (1961). CAS  Google Scholar  * Wen, J.-M.,

Evans, J. W., Bartelt, M. C., Burnett, J. W. & Thiel, P. A. Coarsening mechanisms in a metal film: From cluster diffusion to vacancy ripening. _Phys. Rev. Lett._ 76, 652–655 (1996).

Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Morgenstern, K., Laegsgaard, E., Stensgaard, I. & Besenbacher, F. Transition from one-dimensional to two-dimensional island decay on an anisotropic

surface. _Phys. Rev. Lett._ 83, 1613–1616 (1999). Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Yao, Y., Ebert, Ph., Li, M ., Zhang, Z. & Wang E. G. Decay characteristics of two-dimensional islands on

strongly anisotropic surfaces. _Phys. Rev. B_ 66, 041407 (2002). Article  Google Scholar  * Brust, M., Walker, M., Bethell, D., Schiffrin, D. J. & Whyman, R. Synthesis of

thiol-derivatised gold nanoparticles in a 2-phase liquid–liquid system. _J. Chem. Soc. Chem. Comm._ 7, 801–802 (1994). Article  Google Scholar  * Waters, C. A., Mills, A. J., Johnson, K. A.

& Schiffrin, D. J. Purification of dodecanethiol derivatised gold nanoparticles. _Chem. Comm._ 4, 540–541 (2003) Article  Google Scholar  * Lifshitz, I. M. & Slyozov, V. V. The

kinetics of precipitation from supersaturated solid solutions. _J. Phys. Chem. Sol._ 19, 35–50 (1961). Article  Google Scholar  Download references ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We are grateful for the

financial support of the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the EU Framework Programme 6 Marie Curie Research Training Networks scheme (under grant MRTN-CT-2004005728

(PATTERNS)). The grazing incidence small angle X-ray scattering work was performed on the EPSRC-funded XMaS beam line at the ESRF, directed by M.J. Cooper and C. Lucas. We are grateful to

the beam line team of S.D. Brown, L. Bouchenoire, D. Mannix, D.F. Paul and P. Thompson for their invaluable assistance, and to M. Everard, C. Nicklin and R. Williams for both collaborating

on the SAXS experiments and for helpful advice related to nanoparticle synthesis. We also would like to very gratefully acknowledge extremely helpful discussions with P. Mulheran, J.P.

Garrahan, and members of the PATTERNS RTN (in particular, U. Thiele and U. Steiner). AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * School of Physics & Astronomy, University of

Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK M. O. Blunt, C. P. Martin, M. Ahola-Tuomi, E. Pauliac-Vaujour, P. Sharp & P. J. Moriarty * Department of Physics, University of Turku, Turku,

FIN-20014, Finland M. Ahola-Tuomi * Department of Chemistry, Centre for Nanoscale Science, University of Liverpool, Crown Street, Liverpool, L69 7ZD, UK P. Nativo & M. Brust Authors * M.

O. Blunt View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * C. P. Martin View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google

Scholar * M. Ahola-Tuomi View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * E. Pauliac-Vaujour View author publications You can also search for this

author inPubMed Google Scholar * P. Sharp View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * P. Nativo View author publications You can also search for

this author inPubMed Google Scholar * M. Brust View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * P. J. Moriarty View author publications You can also

search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CONTRIBUTIONS M.O.B. and P.J.M. conceived and designed the experiments. M.O.B., M.A.-T., E.P.-V., and P.S. performed the experiments. M.O.B.,

C.P.M., and P.J.M. analysed the data. C.P.M., P.N., and M.B. contributed materials/analysis tools. M.O.B. and P.J.M. co-wrote the paper. CORRESPONDING AUTHORS Correspondence to M. Brust or

P. J. Moriarty. ETHICS DECLARATIONS COMPETING INTERESTS The authors declare no competing financial interests. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary video S1 (AVI

1252 kb) SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary video S2 (AVI 1126 kb) SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary video S3 (AVI 724 kb) SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary video S4 (AVI

1636 kb) SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary video S5 (AVI 874 kb) SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary video S6 (AVI 1091 kb) SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary video captions

(PDF 57 kb) RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Blunt, M., Martin, C., Ahola-Tuomi, M. _et al._ Coerced mechanical coarsening of nanoparticle

assemblies. _Nature Nanotech_ 2, 167–170 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2007.25 Download citation * Received: 14 December 2006 * Accepted: 18 January 2007 * Published: 18 February

2007 * Issue Date: March 2007 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2007.25 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: Get shareable link

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. Copy to clipboard Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative