Evaporative self-assembly of gold nanoparticles on various surfaces

In this book we present results of different studies into the assembly of gold nanorods. In chapter 2 we describe the synthesis of low aspect ratio gold nanorods as used in this thesis, and review their optical properties. The role of various chemicals used in the synthesis of nanoparticles is also addressed. In chapter 3 we compare the aforementioned imaging tools as applied to our surfactant-coated gold nanorods. In chapter 4 we study the deposition of CTAB stabilized gold nanorods on HOPG surfaces using SEM, STM and AFM techniques.In chapter 5 we investigate the phase separation of gold nanospheres and nanorods on homogeneous unpatterned silicon surfaces during evaporative assembly. In the last two chapters, we focus on the evaporative assembly on chemically stripe-patterned surfaces consisting of alternating hydrophilic/hydrophobic stripes having widths in the micrometer range. More specifically, we focus on stripe-patterned surfaces with a wettability gradient, which allows to control the motion of evaporating droplets and their contact lines.