en
Scientific article
English

Quantitative Analysis of Scanning Tunneling Microscopy Images of Mixed-Ligand-Functionalized Nanoparticles

Published inLangmuir, vol. 29, no. 45, p. 13723-13734
Publication date2013
Abstract

Ligand-protected gold nanoparticles exhibit large local curvatures, features rapidly varying over small scales, and chemical heterogeneity. Their imaging by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) can, in principle, provide direct information on the architecture of their ligand shell, yet STM images require laborious analysis and are challenging to interpret. Here, we report a straightforward, robust, and rigorous method for the quantitative analysis of the multiscale features contained in STM images of samples consisting of functionalized Au nanoparticles deposited onto Au/mica. The method relies on the analysis of the topographical power spectral density (PSD) and allows us to extract the characteristic length scales of the features exhibited by nanoparticles in STM images. For the mixed-ligand-protected Au nanoparticles analyzed here, the characteristic length scale is 1.2 ± 0.1 nm, whereas for the homoligand Au NPs this scale is 0.75 ± 0.05 nm. These length scales represent spatial correlations independent of scanning parameters, and hence the features in the PSD can be ascribed to a fingerprint of the STM contrast of ligand-protected nanoparticles. PSD spectra from images recorded at different laboratories using different microscopes and operators can be overlapped across most of the frequency range, proving that the features in the STM images of nanoparticles can be compared and reproduced.

Research group
Citation (ISO format)
BISCARINI, Fabio et al. Quantitative Analysis of Scanning Tunneling Microscopy Images of Mixed-Ligand-Functionalized Nanoparticles. In: Langmuir, 2013, vol. 29, n° 45, p. 13723–13734. doi: 10.1021/la403546c
Main files (1)
Article (Published version)
accessLevelRestricted
Identifiers
ISSN of the journal0743-7463
604views
0downloads

Technical informations

Creation04/22/2014 9:13:00 AM
First validation04/22/2014 9:13:00 AM
Update time03/14/2023 9:09:07 PM
Status update03/14/2023 9:09:06 PM
Last indexation01/16/2024 9:46:59 AM
All rights reserved by Archive ouverte UNIGE and the University of GenevaunigeBlack