- Title
- On the coalescence of nanoparticulate gold sinter ink
- Creator
- Cortie, Michael B.; Coutts, Michael J.; Ton-That, Cuong; Dowd, Annette; Keast, Vicki J.; McDonagh, Andrew M.
- Relation
- ARC
- Relation
- Journal of Physical Chemistry: Part C Vol. 117, Issue 21, p. 11377-11384
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jp401815b
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2013
- Description
- We examine the mechanism by which thiol-protected gold nanoparticle inks can sinter at surprisingly low temperatures. At room temperature the sample is comprised of randomly close-packed gold nanoparticles of about 2.3 nm diameter with a ligand shell of about 0.2 nm effective thickness. As the particles are heated through 80 °C they begin to coarsen, reaching about 10 nm diameter at 180 °C. Upon further heating, rapid sintering and grain growth occurs at a temperature that depends on environment and heating rate. Sintering in vacuum requires a higher temperature than in oxidizing environments. Mass spectrometry in the former case is consistent with volatile species such as C₄H₉, C₂SH, and C₂H₄ being displaced, whereas XPS shows that the exposed surface of the Au is rich in C and S. However, when sintering is performed in the presence of even trace O₂, it is the Au–S bond that is cleaved, and the sintering temperature is lowered by up to 50 °C. In this case mass spectrometry shows the generation of alkane and thiol fragments, some S₂ and H₂S, and oxidized sulfur-containing species, whereas XPS shows that C and S on the Au surface is much reduced.
- Subject
- gold nanoparticle inks; physical chemistry
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1295413
- Identifier
- uon:19018
- Identifier
- ISSN:1932-7447
- Language
- eng
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