Transition volumes from multiply twinned particles to single crystals of supported Ag and Au nanoparticles

Peiyu Chen (1) , Fabien Silly (2) , Yingrui Zhao (1) , Martin Castell (1)

1 University of Oxford
2 CEA - CEA- Saclay

Shape changes of Ag and Au nanoparticles supported on single crystal reconstructed SrTiO 3 (001) and (111) substrates were investigated using scanning tunneling microscopy. Both metals nucleate as multiply twinned particles (MTPs) and transform into face-centered-cubic single crystals (SCs) beyond a critical volume. On SrTiO 3 (001)- c(4 × 2) the critical volumes are measured as 141 ± 51 nm 3 for Ag and 107 ± 23 nm 3 for Au, whereas on SrTiO 3 (111)–(4 × 4)+(6 × 6) the critical volumes are 53 ± 26 nm 3 for Ag and 26 ± 40 nm 3 for Au. A much larger transition volume was observed on SrTiO 3 (001)–(2 × 1), where Ag remains as MTPs up to 3400 nm 3 , while Au nucleates as atomic monolayers instead of MTPs. This work demonstrates the significant impact of small variations of the surface structure of the substrate on the MTP–SC transition volume.

Domaines: Physique [physics]

Peiyu Chen, Fabien Silly, Yingrui Zhao, Martin Castell. Transition volumes from multiply twinned particles to single crystals of supported Ag and Au nanoparticles. Applied Physics Letters, 2022, 121 (6), pp.061604. ⟨10.1063/5.0100156⟩. ⟨cea-03937236⟩