Silica-coated metals and semiconductors. Stabilization and nanostructuring
Marta Alejandro-Arellano, Thearith Ung, Álvaro Blanco, Paul
Mulvaney, and Luis M. Liz-Marzán*
*Departamento de Química Física, Universidade
de Vigo, E-36200, Vigo, Spain
Abstract: We present in this paper the use of silica-coating
for nanostructuring metal and semiconductor nanoparticles. The basic
concept is the strict tailoring of the interparticle spacing through
the thickness of the silica shell. Three different experiments are presented
that exemplify this concept. The first example consists of the preparation
of thin films using the layer-by-layer self-assembly of gold nanoparticles,
either uncoated or coated with thin silica shells. The observed optical
effects are interpreted using effective medium theory. The second and
third experiments are related to the preparation of three-dimensional
nanostructures, either as concentrated dispersions of thickly coated
Au or CdS nanoparticles, or as opals prepared from such core-shell nanoparticles.
Within these crystalline solids, intercore distance is again dictated
by the thickness of the silica shells.
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