Guided assembly of nanoparticles on electrostatically charged nanocrystalline diamond thin films

0375020 - FZÚ 2012 RIV US eng J - Journal Article
Verveniotis, Elisseos - Kromka, Alexander - Ledinský, Martin - Čermák, Jan - Rezek, Bohuslav
Guided assembly of nanoparticles on electrostatically charged nanocrystalline diamond thin films.
Nanoscale Research Letters. Roč. 6, Feb. (2011), 144/1-144/6. ISSN 1931-7573. E-ISSN 1556-276X
R&D Projects: GA ČR GD202/09/H041; GA MŠMT(CZ) LC06040; GA AV ČR KAN400100701; GA MŠMT LC510
Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10100521
Keywords : nanocrystalline diamond * oxygen-terminated diamond * hydrogen-terminated diamond * electrostatic charging * self-assembly process
Subject RIV: BM - Solid Matter Physics ; Magnetism
Impact factor: 2.726, year: 2011

We apply atomic force microscope for local electrostatic charging of oxygen-terminated nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) thin films deposited on silicon, to induce electrostatically driven self-assembly of colloidal alumina nanoparticles into micro-patterns. Considering possible capacitive, sp2 phase and spatial uniformity factors to charging, we employ films with sub-100 nm thickness and about 60% relative sp2 phase content, probe the spatial material uniformity by Raman and electron microscopy, and repeat experiments at various positions. We demonstrate that electrostatic potential contrast on the NCD films varies between 0.1 and 1.2 V and that the contrast of more than ±1 V (as detected by Kelvin force microscopy) is able to induce self-assembly of the nanoparticles via coulombic and polarization forces. This opens prospects for applications of diamond and its unique set of properties in self-assembly of nano-devices and nano-systems.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0207797