The Self-organization of Metal Loaded Micelles - An Approach to Prepare Ordered Arrays of Metallic Nanoislands

The preparation and characterization of hexagonally ordered pure An nanoparticles is described. Self-assembly of diblock copolymers in solution is the driving force which leads to micellar structures. Starting, for example, with Au-salt loaded inverse micelles, monomicellar arrays exhibiting a significant hexagonal order can be prepared with taylored intermicellar distances and structure heights on top of various substrates. In order to remove the polymer matrix and to finally obtain arrays of pure An nanoparticles, the micelles are first exposed to an oxygen plasma followed by an annealing process. Special attention is given to the chemical state of the nanoparticles applying photoelectron spectroscopy to control all preparational steps.