Growth and properties of Au nanowires

Alberto Roldan (1) , Josep Manel Ricart (2) , Francesc Illas (3)

1 Química-Física
2 Quimica Fisica i Inorganica
3 Quimica Fisica & IQTCUB

The self assembling of Au nanoparticles into nanowires of different structure has been investigated by means of a periodic approach within density functional theory using a Au79 nanoparticle as building block. The density functional calculations show that the interaction of the Au nanoparticles takes place preferentially along the [111] direction, in agreement with experimental. The electronic structure of the different Au nanowires studied is found to be intermediate between that of the isolated nanoparticle and that of the bulk metal. This is perhaps not surprising but has important consequences for the chemistry of such nanostructures. Finally, calculations carried our for nanowires built from Cu, Ag and Au nanoparticles containing 38 atoms reveal that the self assembling mechanism is general but that the strength of the interaction is dictated by the chemical nature of the metal with Au being the coinage metal leading to stronger interaction between the nanoparticles.

Mots clés: Physical Sciences

Alberto Roldan, Josep Manel Ricart, Francesc Illas. Growth and properties of Au nanowires. Molecular Simulation, 2009, 35 (12-13), pp.1051-1056. ⟨10.1080/08927020902902775⟩. ⟨hal-00530452⟩