A crucial challenge in nanotechnology is bottom-up assembly of nanoscale materials. For many optical and electronic applications, it is necessary to address a single nanocrystal. However, positioning single nanocrystals with nanometre precision on a substrate for integration into solid state devices, or construction of metamaterials, remains a fundamental challenge. Here, we show single nanoparticle assembly through electrophoretic deposition. Gold nanospheres, down to 30 nm, and gold nanorods can be assembled into predefined patterns on transparent conductive substrates within seconds. The arrays of nanorods shows that rod orientation can also be preserved during deposition. As an example of this, dimer nanorod arrays were assembled with separations of down to 50 nm. Furthermore, we demonstrate the scalability and fidelity of the process by creating a centimetre scale “Au” logo containing more than 1 million gold nanoparticles.

Direct assembly of nanoparticle arrays by electrophoretic deposition

255th National Meeting (2018)

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