The impact of oxygen on the morphology of gas-phase prepared Au nanoparticles

Abstract

We present an easy procedure for the synthesis of single crystalline gold nanoparticles with a mean diameter of 4 nm using a DC-sputtering in an argon-oxygen gas mixture. Morphology population statistics have been determined to quantify the influence of oxygen. It is found that the particles undergo a structural transition from predominantly icosahedral to single crystalline particles with increasing amount of oxygen. Aberration-corrected high-resolution transmission electron microscopy investigation proves that likewise prepared single crystalline nanoparticles are defect and oxygen free. In contrast, the icosahedral particles prepared with pure argon show the presence of edge dislocations pointing to an energetic disfavoring already at these relatively small particle sizes. This morphology control of clean and uncovered Au nanoparticles provides a high application potential, e.g., for studying the influence of the particle morphology on plasmonic and catalytic properties.