Preparation and analysis of a two-components breath figure at the nanoscale

Richard Kofman (1) , Marco Allione (1) , Franck Celestini (1) , Z. Barkay (2) , Y. Lereah (2, 3)

1 LPMC - Laboratoire de physique de la matière condensée
2 Wolfson Applied Materials Research Center
3 Department of Physical Electronics

Solid/liquid two-components Ga-Pb structures in isolated nanometer sized particles have been produced and studied by electron microscopy. Production is based on the breath figure technique and we investigate the way the two components are distributed. We clearly identify two growth regimes associated with the two different ways a Pb atom incorporates into a Ga nanodrop. Using TEM and SEM, the shape and microstructure of the nanoparticles are studied and the results obtained are in good agreement with the proposed model. The experimental technique used appears to be appropriate to produce Pb nanocrystals in liquid Ga nano-containers.

Mots clés: Lead; Gallium; Nanostructured materials; Nanocrystal; Nanoparticles; Microstructure; Scanning electron microscopy; Transmission electron microscopy; Chemical preparation

Domaines: Autre [cond-mat.other]

Richard Kofman, Marco Allione, Franck Celestini, Z. Barkay, Y. Lereah. Preparation and analysis of a two-components breath figure at the nanoscale. The European Physical Journal D : Atomic, molecular, optical and plasma physics, 2008, 50 (3), pp.279-284. ⟨10.1140/epjd/e2008-00228-6⟩. ⟨hal-00435089⟩