11-08 :: August 2011

nanotimes News in Brief

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Top: AFM image of silicon nanoparticles on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite. Right: height distribution data – the peak at 0.32nm is assigned to the HOPG substrate, while the peak at 1.39 nm is assigned to silicon clusters. © Gauthier Torricelli / IOP

Image left: Gauthier Torricelli transfers samples into the atomic force microscope. © Gauthier Torricelli / IOP

group first produces silicon nanoparticle beams in the gas phase and then co-deposits the nanoparticles with water vapour onto a cold target. Melting of the ice yields a suspension of fluorescent nanoparticles.

The researchers believe that their technique can be used for the production of nanoparticles other than silicon and the next step is to investigate whether the size-selecting effect of water will be displayed in other solvents as well. The discovery of the size- selecting effect may be relevant to applications of nanostructures in optoelectronics, catalysis, and biomedical diagnostics and therapy.

G. Torricelli, A. Akraiam and K. von Haeften: Size- selecting effect of water on fluorescent silicon clusters, In: Nanotechnology, Volume 22(2011), Number 31, 315711, DOI:10.1088/0957-4484/22/31/315711: http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0957-4484/22/31/315711