Title: Copolymer template etching for Au nanoparticles self-assembly

Authors: Priscilla Tan; Alexandre Plaud; Pascal Royer; Thomas Maurer

Addresses: Laboratoire de Nanotechnologie et d'Instrumentation Optique, Institut Charles Delaunay CNRS UMR No. 6281, Université de Technologie de Troyes, Université de Champagne, CS 42060, 10004 Troyes, France ' Laboratoire de Nanotechnologie et d'Instrumentation Optique, Institut Charles Delaunay CNRS UMR No. 6281, Université de Technologie de Troyes, Université de Champagne, CS 42060, 10004 Troyes, France ' Laboratoire de Nanotechnologie et d'Instrumentation Optique, Institut Charles Delaunay CNRS UMR No. 6281, Université de Technologie de Troyes, Université de Champagne, CS 42060, 10004 Troyes, France ' Laboratoire de Nanotechnologie et d'Instrumentation Optique, Institut Charles Delaunay CNRS UMR No. 6281, Université de Technologie de Troyes, Université de Champagne, CS 42060, 10004 Troyes, France

Abstract: In this paper, we report a study on self-assembly of Au colloids assisted by polystyrene (PS)-polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) block copolymer templates. Etching PMMA cylindrical domains of PS-PMMA thin films provides large-scale arrays of holes in which 12nm Au colloids may fall into. We demonstrate that the holes' functionalisation with aminosilanes favours the deposition of the Au colloids into the holes. The extinction spectroscopy measurements demonstrate that the Au NPs which are self-assembled using this process do not present any aggregation. Such a process should pave the way for designing plasmonic devices like optical nanosensors.

Keywords: metallic nanoparticles; self-assembly; copolymer template etching; localised SPR; surface plasmon resonance; optical nanosensors; nanotechnology; Au nanoparticles; gold nanoparticles; Au colloids; gold colloids; polystyrene-polymethyl methacrylate; PMMA; block copolymer templates; thin films; aminosilanes; plasmonic device design.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNT.2016.080353

International Journal of Nanotechnology, 2016 Vol.13 No.10/11/12, pp.716 - 723

Published online: 16 Nov 2016 *

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