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Nano Research 2019, 12(8): 1781-1788 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-019-2431-7
Research Article | Issue | Published: 11 June 2019

Exploring the synthesis conditions to control the morphology of gold–iron oxide heterostructures

Show Author's Information Pablo Tancredi1,§,  Luelc Souza da Costa2,3,§,  Sebastian Calderon4,  Oscar Moscoso-Londoño5,6,  Leandro M. Socolovsky7,  Paulo J. Ferreira4,8,  Diego Muraca5,  Daniela Zanchet2( ),  Marcelo Knobel5( )
Laboratory of Amorphous Solids, INTECIN, Faculty of Engineering,University of Buenos Aires – CONICET,Buenos Aires, CP,C1063ACV,Argentina;
Department of Inorganic Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry,University of Campinas (UNICAMP), CP6154,13083-970,Campinas, SP, Brazil;
Brazilian Nanotechnology National Laboratory (LNNano),Rua Giuseppe Máximo Scolfaro,10000,Campinas, SP, Brazil;
International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL),Av. Mestre José Veiga s/n,4715-330,Braga, Portugal;
"Gleb Wataghin" Institute of Physics,University of Campinas (UNICAMP),CEP,13083-859,Campinas, SP, Brazil;
Autonomous University of Manizales,Antigua Estación del Ferrocarril, Manizales,CP,170001,Colombia;
Facultad Regional Santa Cruz,Universidad Tecnológica Nacional - CIT Santa Cruz (CONICET) – Av de los Inmigrantes 555,Río Gallegos, Santa Cruz,Argentina;
Materials Science and Engineering Program,The University of Texas at Austin,,Austin, Texas,78712,USA;

§ Pablo Tancredi and Luelc Souza da Costa contributed equally to this work.

Keywords:
nanoparticles, epitaxial growth, gold–iron oxide heterostructures, heterogeneous nucleation, HR-microscopy
Topics:
Epitaxial growthGold compoundsGold nanoparticlesMorphologyNanoparticlesPlasmonic nanoparticles Plasmonics
Cite this article:
Tancredi P, da Costa LS, Calderon S, et al. Exploring the synthesis conditions to control the morphology of gold–iron oxide heterostructures. Nano Research, 2019, 12(8): 1781-1788. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-019-2431-7
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Gold–iron oxide nano-heterostructures with a clear and well-defined morphology were prepared via a seed-assisted method. The synthesis process and the events of heterogeneous nucleation during the decomposition of the iron precursor were carefully studied in order to understand the mechanism of the reaction and to tailor the architecture of the fabricated heterostructures. When employing Au seeds of 3 and 5 nm, nanoparticles with a dimer-like morphology were produced due to the occurrence of a single iron oxide nucleation event. Otherwise, multi-nucleation events could be favored by two mechanisms: (i) by the incorporation of a reducing agent and the slowing down of the heating protocol, leading to a core–shell system; (ii) by the increase of the Au seed size to 8 nm, leading to a flower-like system. Further increase of the Au seed size to 12 nm using similar synthesis conditions promotes the homogeneous nucleation and growth of the iron oxide phase, without formation of heterostructures. An in-depth study was performed on the gold–iron oxide heterostructures to confirm the epitaxial growth of the oxide domain over the Au seed and to analyze the elemental distribution of the components within the heterostructures. Finally, it was found that the modification of the plasmonic properties of the Au nanoparticles are strongly influenced by the architecture of the heterostructure, with a more pronounced damping effect for the systems produced after multi-nucleation events.


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Electronic supplementary material
About this article

Exploring the synthesis conditions to control the morphology of gold–iron oxide heterostructures

Show Author's information Pablo Tancredi1,§, Luelc Souza da Costa2,3,§, Sebastian Calderon4, Oscar Moscoso-Londoño5,6, Leandro M. Socolovsky7, Paulo J. Ferreira4,8, Diego Muraca5, Daniela Zanchet2( ), Marcelo Knobel5( )
Laboratory of Amorphous Solids, INTECIN, Faculty of Engineering,University of Buenos Aires – CONICET,Buenos Aires, CP,C1063ACV,Argentina;
Department of Inorganic Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry,University of Campinas (UNICAMP), CP6154,13083-970,Campinas, SP, Brazil;
Brazilian Nanotechnology National Laboratory (LNNano),Rua Giuseppe Máximo Scolfaro,10000,Campinas, SP, Brazil;
International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL),Av. Mestre José Veiga s/n,4715-330,Braga, Portugal;
"Gleb Wataghin" Institute of Physics,University of Campinas (UNICAMP),CEP,13083-859,Campinas, SP, Brazil;
Autonomous University of Manizales,Antigua Estación del Ferrocarril, Manizales,CP,170001,Colombia;
Facultad Regional Santa Cruz,Universidad Tecnológica Nacional - CIT Santa Cruz (CONICET) – Av de los Inmigrantes 555,Río Gallegos, Santa Cruz,Argentina;
Materials Science and Engineering Program,The University of Texas at Austin,,Austin, Texas,78712,USA;

§ Pablo Tancredi and Luelc Souza da Costa contributed equally to this work.

Abstract

Gold–iron oxide nano-heterostructures with a clear and well-defined morphology were prepared via a seed-assisted method. The synthesis process and the events of heterogeneous nucleation during the decomposition of the iron precursor were carefully studied in order to understand the mechanism of the reaction and to tailor the architecture of the fabricated heterostructures. When employing Au seeds of 3 and 5 nm, nanoparticles with a dimer-like morphology were produced due to the occurrence of a single iron oxide nucleation event. Otherwise, multi-nucleation events could be favored by two mechanisms: (i) by the incorporation of a reducing agent and the slowing down of the heating protocol, leading to a core–shell system; (ii) by the increase of the Au seed size to 8 nm, leading to a flower-like system. Further increase of the Au seed size to 12 nm using similar synthesis conditions promotes the homogeneous nucleation and growth of the iron oxide phase, without formation of heterostructures. An in-depth study was performed on the gold–iron oxide heterostructures to confirm the epitaxial growth of the oxide domain over the Au seed and to analyze the elemental distribution of the components within the heterostructures. Finally, it was found that the modification of the plasmonic properties of the Au nanoparticles are strongly influenced by the architecture of the heterostructure, with a more pronounced damping effect for the systems produced after multi-nucleation events.

Keywords: nanoparticles, epitaxial growth, gold–iron oxide heterostructures, heterogeneous nucleation, HR-microscopy

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Publication history
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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 26 November 2018
Revised: 03 May 2019
Accepted: 06 May 2019
Published: 11 June 2019
Issue date: August 2019

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2019

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

This study was financed in part by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) - Finance Code 001, Brazil. O. M.-L., M. K. and D. M. acknowledge the Brazilian agencies Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) (2014/26672-8; 2011-12356) and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) (303236/2017-5). L. M. S. and P. T. acknowledge the Argentinian agency Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) (fellowship and project PIP 468CO). L. S. C. and D. Z. acknowledge Coordenação de aperfeiçoamento de pessoal de nivel superior (CAPES) (PhD fellowship 1140906), FAPESP (2011/50727-9) and CNPq (309373/2014-0). The authors acknowledge the Brazilian Nanotechnology National Laboratory (LNNano) for the use of electron microscopy facility under the projects ME–22345, 21812, TEM 13321, 18588, 19497, 20570, 20302 and 20220.

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