Quantitatively modeling the equilibrium properties of thiol-decorated gold nanoparticles

Michael Tambasco, Sanat K. Kumar, Igal Szleifer

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

15 Scopus citations

Abstract

We employ a molecular mean-field theory to quantitatively understand the sizes, surfactant surface coverage, and size fluctuations of gold nanocrystals decorated with thiol surfactants of different chain lengths. Our model assumes that surfactant-coated nanoparticles are equilibrium structures. We find that packing constraints experienced by the surfactant tails are less significant for more curved (smaller) particles. This effect enables us to rationalize the experimental observations/deductions that the thiol coverage per unit area increases with decreasing particle size. The reduction of surface coverage with increasing size also explains the fact that size polydispersity increases with increasing nanoparticle size. We find that increasing the length of the surfactants results in larger nanoparticles.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)8448-8451
Number of pages4
JournalLangmuir
Volume24
Issue number16
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 19 2008

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Spectroscopy
  • General Materials Science
  • Surfaces and Interfaces
  • Electrochemistry

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