Collective amplification of nearby nanoparticles in the Coulomb blockade restricted charging of a single nanoparticle
The characterization of charges in oxide supported metal nanoparticles (NP) is of high interest in research fields like heterogeneous catalysis and microelectronics. A general desire is to manipulate the charge of an oxide supported single NP and to characterize afterwards the charge and its interfe...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2021-01-01
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| Series: | New Journal of Physics |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/ac38cb |
| _version_ | 1797750001743429632 |
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| author | Baptiste Chatelain Ali El Barraj Clémence Badie Lionel Santinacci Clemens Barth |
| author_facet | Baptiste Chatelain Ali El Barraj Clémence Badie Lionel Santinacci Clemens Barth |
| author_sort | Baptiste Chatelain |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The characterization of charges in oxide supported metal nanoparticles (NP) is of high interest in research fields like heterogeneous catalysis and microelectronics. A general desire is to manipulate the charge of an oxide supported single NP and to characterize afterwards the charge and its interference with the insulating support but also with nearby NPs in the vicinity. By using noncontact AFM (nc-AFM) and Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) in ultra-high vacuum and at room temperature we show that a ∼5 nm small AuNP can be directly charged with electrons by the AFM tip and that upon the charging, nearby AuNPs sensitively change their electrostatic potential with a large impact on the charge detection by nc-AFM and KPFM. The AuNPs are supported on a 40 nm thick insulating Al _2 O _3 film, which is grown by atomic layer deposition on Si(001). Due to Coulomb blockades, the NP charging appears in the form of large and discrete peaks in detuning versus bias voltage curves. Finite element method calculations reveal that the large peaks can only be observed when the potentials of nearby insulated NPs get modified by the NP’s electron charge, according to the electrostatic induction principle. In view of the number of transferred electrons, we anticipate that after the charging, the electrons are transferred from the AuNP to the NP-Al _2 O _3 interface or into Al _2 O _3 subsurface regions directly underneath. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:27:38Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-951c4c53a95a4e148bc6db4c4bb3bc43 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1367-2630 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:27:38Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | New Journal of Physics |
| spelling | doaj.art-951c4c53a95a4e148bc6db4c4bb3bc432023-08-08T15:40:46ZengIOP PublishingNew Journal of Physics1367-26302021-01-01231212300910.1088/1367-2630/ac38cbCollective amplification of nearby nanoparticles in the Coulomb blockade restricted charging of a single nanoparticleBaptiste Chatelain0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3121-0409Ali El Barraj1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9947-6935Clémence Badie2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9638-7224Lionel Santinacci3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7250-0704Clemens Barth4https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4250-4533Aix-Marseille University , CNRS, CINaM, Marseille, FranceAix-Marseille University , CNRS, CINaM, Marseille, FranceAix-Marseille University , CNRS, CINaM, Marseille, FranceAix-Marseille University , CNRS, CINaM, Marseille, FranceAix-Marseille University , CNRS, CINaM, Marseille, FranceThe characterization of charges in oxide supported metal nanoparticles (NP) is of high interest in research fields like heterogeneous catalysis and microelectronics. A general desire is to manipulate the charge of an oxide supported single NP and to characterize afterwards the charge and its interference with the insulating support but also with nearby NPs in the vicinity. By using noncontact AFM (nc-AFM) and Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) in ultra-high vacuum and at room temperature we show that a ∼5 nm small AuNP can be directly charged with electrons by the AFM tip and that upon the charging, nearby AuNPs sensitively change their electrostatic potential with a large impact on the charge detection by nc-AFM and KPFM. The AuNPs are supported on a 40 nm thick insulating Al _2 O _3 film, which is grown by atomic layer deposition on Si(001). Due to Coulomb blockades, the NP charging appears in the form of large and discrete peaks in detuning versus bias voltage curves. Finite element method calculations reveal that the large peaks can only be observed when the potentials of nearby insulated NPs get modified by the NP’s electron charge, according to the electrostatic induction principle. In view of the number of transferred electrons, we anticipate that after the charging, the electrons are transferred from the AuNP to the NP-Al _2 O _3 interface or into Al _2 O _3 subsurface regions directly underneath.https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/ac38cbnanoparticle chargingCoulomb blockadeselectrostatic inductiongold on Al2O3atomic layer deposition (ALD)Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) |
| spellingShingle | Baptiste Chatelain Ali El Barraj Clémence Badie Lionel Santinacci Clemens Barth Collective amplification of nearby nanoparticles in the Coulomb blockade restricted charging of a single nanoparticle New Journal of Physics nanoparticle charging Coulomb blockades electrostatic induction gold on Al2O3 atomic layer deposition (ALD) Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) |
| title | Collective amplification of nearby nanoparticles in the Coulomb blockade restricted charging of a single nanoparticle |
| title_full | Collective amplification of nearby nanoparticles in the Coulomb blockade restricted charging of a single nanoparticle |
| title_fullStr | Collective amplification of nearby nanoparticles in the Coulomb blockade restricted charging of a single nanoparticle |
| title_full_unstemmed | Collective amplification of nearby nanoparticles in the Coulomb blockade restricted charging of a single nanoparticle |
| title_short | Collective amplification of nearby nanoparticles in the Coulomb blockade restricted charging of a single nanoparticle |
| title_sort | collective amplification of nearby nanoparticles in the coulomb blockade restricted charging of a single nanoparticle |
| topic | nanoparticle charging Coulomb blockades electrostatic induction gold on Al2O3 atomic layer deposition (ALD) Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/ac38cb |
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