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Characterization of gold nanoclusters deposited on HOPG by atmospheric plasma treatment

  1. Frédéric Demoisson1,*,
  2. Marc Raes2,
  3. Herman Terryn2,
  4. Jérôme Guillot3,
  5. Henri-Noel Migeon3,
  6. François Reniers1

Article first published online: 25 JAN 2008

DOI: 10.1002/sia.2709

Issue

Surface and Interface Analysis

Surface and Interface Analysis

Special Issue: Papers Presented at ECASIA'07: The 12th European Conference on Applications of Surface and Interface Analysis, Brussels, Belgium, 9–14 September 2007

Volume 40, Issue 3-4, pages 566–570, March - April 2008

Additional Information

How to Cite

Demoisson, F., Raes, M., Terryn, H., Guillot, J., Migeon, H.-N. and Reniers, F. (2008), Characterization of gold nanoclusters deposited on HOPG by atmospheric plasma treatment. Surf. Interface Anal., 40: 566–570. doi: 10.1002/sia.2709

Author Information

  1. 1

    Université Libre de Bruxelles, Faculté des Sciences, Service de Chimie Analytique et Chimie des Interfaces (CHANI), CP 255, 2 Boulevard du Triomphe, B-1050 Bruxelles, Belgique

  2. 2

    Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Department of Metallurgy, Electrochemistry and Materials Science (META), Pleinlaan 2, B-1050 Brussel, Belgie

  3. 3

    Centre de Recherche Public Gabriel Lippmann, Département Science et Analyse des Matériaux (SAM), 41 rue du Brill, L-4422 Belvaux, Luxembourg

*Université Libre de Bruxelles, Faculté des Sciences, Service de Chimie Analytique et Chimie des Interfaces (CHANI), CP 255, 2 Boulevard du Triomphe, B-1050 Bruxelles, Belgique.

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 20 MAR 2008
  2. Article first published online: 25 JAN 2008
  3. Manuscript Revised: 13 NOV 2007
  4. Manuscript Accepted: 13 NOV 2007
  5. Manuscript Received: 14 AUG 2007

Funded by

  • Nano2Hybrids European research project. Grant Number: EC-STREP-033311
  • Belgium federal scientific policy

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Keywords:

  • nanotechnology;
  • atmospheric plasma;
  • Au clusters;
  • HOPG;
  • XPS;
  • AFM;
  • FE-SEM

Abstract

The interest of gold nanoparticles in the field of nanocatalysis and nanosensors is growing. For example, carbon nanotubes covered with gold nanoclusters could present interesting properties in catalysis or/and in devices based on catalytic reaction such as chemical gas sensor. Unfortunately, the characterization of nanoparticles deposited onto a substrate is generally not a trivial exercise. Indeed, in many cases, the amount and size of material deposited is in the range of the sensitivity limits and the spatial resolutions of the techniques used. In that respect, our system, i.e. gold deposited onto a carbon support, is a favourable case, due to the high difference between the atomic numbers of gold and carbon.

In this work, gold nanoparticles were deposited onto a HOPG (Highly Oriented Pyrolitic Graphite) substrate using an atmospheric plasma. In this preliminary study, HOPG sample has been used as a model surface that could present the same chemical properties as multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs).

The surface composition was analysed using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Narrow region electron spectra were used to extract the chemical-state information from the C 1s, O 1s and Au 4f peaks. The Au 4f spectral line shape was also analysed using the QUASES–Tougaard software package in order to obtain the in-depth concentration profile of the resulting nanomaterial. This result evidences a good agreement between experiment and modelling. Indeed, field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) images highlight a homogeneous distribution of 10 nm-size gold clusters with a surface coverage of 12% on the HOPG surface, both in agreement with the results obtained with the Tougaard and coworkers method. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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