Direct observation of the structure of gold nanoparticles by total scattering powder neutron diffraction

Katharine Page, Thomas Proffen, Humberto Terrones, Mauricio Terrones, Lily Lee, Yan Yang, Susanne Stemmer, Ram Seshadri, Anthony K. Cheetham

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89 Scopus citations

Abstract

Fluorothiol-capped fcc gold nanoparticles, with a mean diameter of approximately 4 nm have been studied using total scattering powder neutron diffraction at 15 and 300 K on the NPDF diffractometer at the Manuel Lujan Jr. Neutron Scattering Center. The results are compared with bulk gold powder. A real space analysis of the structure of the nanoparticles has been performed using the pair distribution function (PDF). This provides valuable information and reveals several interesting features. The PDF pattern for the nanoparticles is significantly attenuated compared to bulk gold due to the finite size of the particles; the attenuation is consistent with the 4 nm size of the particles. The nanoparticles have a slightly smaller lattice parameter at both temperatures but the nearest neighbor Au-Au vectors are entirely symmetrical and there is no evidence for structural relaxation associated with atoms near the surface. The vector between surface Au atoms and sulfur of the thiol cap layer can be observed at ∼2.4 Å. The study points to the great power of total neutron scattering in ensemble-averaged analysis of structure in the nano regime.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)385-388
Number of pages4
JournalChemical Physics Letters
Volume393
Issue number4-6
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 1 2004
Externally publishedYes

Funding

This work has been supported by the MRSEC Grant of the National Science Foundation under Award No. DMR00-80034. Lily Lee is supported by the R ise program of Materials Research Laboratory. This work has benefited from the use of the Lujan Center at Los Alamos Neutron Science Center, funded by Department of Energy Office of Basic Energy Sciences and Los Alamos National Laboratory funded by Department of Energy under contract W-7405-ENG-36. MT, HT and AKC acknowledge support from the UC-MEXUS program.

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