Developing optoelectronic
devices, biological or chemical sensors,
displays, and other devices based on nanoparticles (NPs) requires
designing tailored NP assemblies on solid substrates, and often with
a given surface positioning. In our study, we discuss a new soft-lithographic
method for patterning an organic layer, which is capable of binding
gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) to the surface. AuNPs with a citrate shell
were 17 nm in diameter and prepared by the Turkevich protocol. Our
method is based on controlling the binding capability of (3-aminopropyl)trimethoxysilane
(APTES)-coated surface by deactivating the −NH2 terminal
groups of APTES under the action of UV-generated ozone in air. We
show that partial and complete deactivation can be achieved depending
on the atmosphere and exposure time. Using a shadow mask during irradiation,
we furthermore show that our method can be applied for creating micron-scale
arrays of NPs on APTES-coated substrates with a spatial resolution
down to ∼1.5 μm, currently limited by the properties
of the mask.