Size dependent swift heavy ion induced Au nanoparticle elongation in SiO2 matrix

Abstract

The elongation of spherical Au nanoparticles embedded in [Formula: see text] under swift heavy ion (SHI) irradiation is an extensively studied phenomenon. The use of a TEM grid as a substrate facilitates the identification of the same nanoparticle before and after the irradiation. Since the underdensification of [Formula: see text] inside the ion track plays a key role, the elongation is sensitive to the matrix material properties. Therefore, we studied the elongation process of SHI irradiated Au spherical nanoparticles of various diameters (5–80 nm) embedded either in atomic layer deposition (ALD) or plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) [Formula: see text]. The results show that a different elongation ratio is achieved depending on the particle initial size, ion fluence, and a different [Formula: see text] deposition method. The embedded nanoparticles in ALD [Formula: see text] elongate roughly 100% more than the nanoparticles embedded in PECVD [Formula: see text] at the biggest applied fluence ([Formula: see text]). On the other hand, at fluences lower than [Formula: see text], nanoparticles elongate slightly more when they are embedded in PECVD [Formula: see text].

Anisotropic deformation of colloidal particles under 4 MeV Cu ions irradiation

“…The thermal spike nature has been proposed to interpret different crystallographic orientations of materials; see for example reference [56]. Ion irradiation of amorphous SiO 2 in various energy ranges (between 1 MeV and 1 GeV) causes structural changes [43]. It is demonstrated that high-energy ions cause the formation of track structures in silica above a threshold of electronic energy loss of 1.4 keV nm −1 , depending on the specific energy.…”

“…It has been demonstrated that different morphologies can be obtained based on the size of the initial sample by researchers at CNRS in Caen, France [35]. Precision aligned nanorods can be easily fabricated using swift heavy ion beam irradiation [36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44]. An investigation by the author and coworkers [45] examined the relationship between metal particle size and deposited energy.…”

Elongation and plasmonic activity of embedded metal nanoparticles following heavy ion irradiation

“…Nitrogen from Inmatec PN 1150 nitrogen generator (99.999% purity) was used as a carrier gas as well as for purging between the precursor pulses. For the deposition of SiO 2 , 32,36 (3-aminopropyl)-triethoxysilane (APTES) (Sigma Aldrich, 99%), deionized water, and O 3 were used as precursors. The growth of 50 nm SiO 2 corresponded to 1250 cycles (36 h).…”

“…In order to embed the nanorods inside SiO 2 , another 50 nm of SiO 2 was deposited by ALD. 32 The fabrication of Au nanorods was made as following: a thin layer of gold (15-20 nm thickness) was rst deposited using Ultra High Vacuum (UHV) evaporator. The next step was the milling of a selected area by 30 keV Ne + beam in HIM.…”

“…31 Earlier studies have shown that the elongation of the nanoparticles along the ion beam direction strongly depends on the initial size of the nanoparticles and the applied uence. 15,17,22,32 However, this dependence on the initial size has not been extended for nanoparticles embedded to other material matrices apart from SiO 2 in contrast to the great variety of metallic species used. 4,[14][15][16][17]21,33,34 Moreover, there is a shortage of studies regarding the nanoparticles shape other than spherical.…”