Nano-contact microscopy of supracrystals
Background: Highly ordered three-dimensional colloidal crystals (supracrystals) comprised of 7.4 nm diameter Au nanocrystals (with a 5% size dispersion) have been imaged and analysed using a combination of scanning tunnelling microscopy and dynamic force microscopy. Results: By exploring the evol...
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| Format: | Article |
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Bellstein-Institut
2015
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31732/ |
| _version_ | 1848794262599106560 |
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| author | Sweetman, Adam Goubet, Nicolas Lekkas, I. Pileni, Marie Paule Moriarty, Philip |
| author_facet | Sweetman, Adam Goubet, Nicolas Lekkas, I. Pileni, Marie Paule Moriarty, Philip |
| author_sort | Sweetman, Adam |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Background: Highly ordered three-dimensional colloidal crystals (supracrystals) comprised of 7.4 nm diameter Au nanocrystals (with a 5% size dispersion) have been imaged and analysed using a combination of scanning tunnelling microscopy and dynamic force microscopy.
Results: By exploring the evolution of both the force and tunnel current with respect to tip–sample separation, we arrive at the surprising finding that single nanocrystal resolution is readily obtained in tunnelling microscopy images acquired more than 1 nm into the repulsive (i.e., positive force) regime of the probe–nanocrystal interaction potential. Constant height force microscopy has been used to map tip–sample interactions in this regime, revealing inhomogeneities which arise from the convolution of the tip structure with the ligand distribution at the nanocrystal surface.
Conclusion: Our combined STM–AFM measurements show that the contrast mechanism underpinning high resolution imaging of nanoparticle supracrystals involves a form of nanoscale contact imaging, rather than the through-vacuum tunnelling which underpins traditional tunnelling microscopy and spectroscopy. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:13:24Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-31732 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:13:24Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | Bellstein-Institut |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-317322020-05-04T17:07:52Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31732/ Nano-contact microscopy of supracrystals Sweetman, Adam Goubet, Nicolas Lekkas, I. Pileni, Marie Paule Moriarty, Philip Background: Highly ordered three-dimensional colloidal crystals (supracrystals) comprised of 7.4 nm diameter Au nanocrystals (with a 5% size dispersion) have been imaged and analysed using a combination of scanning tunnelling microscopy and dynamic force microscopy. Results: By exploring the evolution of both the force and tunnel current with respect to tip–sample separation, we arrive at the surprising finding that single nanocrystal resolution is readily obtained in tunnelling microscopy images acquired more than 1 nm into the repulsive (i.e., positive force) regime of the probe–nanocrystal interaction potential. Constant height force microscopy has been used to map tip–sample interactions in this regime, revealing inhomogeneities which arise from the convolution of the tip structure with the ligand distribution at the nanocrystal surface. Conclusion: Our combined STM–AFM measurements show that the contrast mechanism underpinning high resolution imaging of nanoparticle supracrystals involves a form of nanoscale contact imaging, rather than the through-vacuum tunnelling which underpins traditional tunnelling microscopy and spectroscopy. Bellstein-Institut 2015-05-29 Article PeerReviewed Sweetman, Adam, Goubet, Nicolas, Lekkas, I., Pileni, Marie Paule and Moriarty, Philip (2015) Nano-contact microscopy of supracrystals. Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology, 6 . pp. 1229-1236. ISSN 2190-4286 dynamic force microscopy; nanoparticle; non-contact atomic force microscopy; point contact imaging; scanning probe microscopy; supracrystal http://www.beilstein-journals.org/bjnano/single/articleFullText.htm?publicId=2190-4286-6-126 doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.126 doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.126 |
| spellingShingle | dynamic force microscopy; nanoparticle; non-contact atomic force microscopy; point contact imaging; scanning probe microscopy; supracrystal Sweetman, Adam Goubet, Nicolas Lekkas, I. Pileni, Marie Paule Moriarty, Philip Nano-contact microscopy of supracrystals |
| title | Nano-contact microscopy of supracrystals |
| title_full | Nano-contact microscopy of supracrystals |
| title_fullStr | Nano-contact microscopy of supracrystals |
| title_full_unstemmed | Nano-contact microscopy of supracrystals |
| title_short | Nano-contact microscopy of supracrystals |
| title_sort | nano-contact microscopy of supracrystals |
| topic | dynamic force microscopy; nanoparticle; non-contact atomic force microscopy; point contact imaging; scanning probe microscopy; supracrystal |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31732/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31732/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31732/ |