Heading toward Miniature Sensors: Electrical Conductance of Linearly Assembled Gold Nanorods

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

Metal nanoparticles are increasingly used as key elements in the fabrication and processing of advanced electronic systems and devices. For future device integration, their charge transport properties are essential. This has been exploited, e.g., in the development of gold-nanoparticle-based conductive inks and chemiresistive sensors. Colloidal wires and metal nanoparticle lines can also be used as interconnection structures to build directional electrical circuits, e.g., for signal transduction. Our scalable bottom-up, template-assisted self-assembly creates gold-nanorod (AuNR) lines that feature comparably small widths, as well as good conductivity. However, the bottom-up approach poses the question about the consistency of charge transport properties between individual lines, as this approach leads to heterogeneities among those lines with regard to AuNR orientation, as well as line defects. Therefore, we test the conductance of the AuNR lines and identify requirements for a reliable performance. We reveal that multiple parallel AuNR lines (>11) are necessary to achieve predictable conductivity properties, defining the level of miniaturization possible in such a setup. With this system, even an active area of only 16 µm2 shows a higher conductance (~10−5 S) than a monolayer of gold nanospheres with dithiolated-conjugated ligands and additionally features the advantage of anisotropic conductance.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number1466
Number of pages11
JournalNanomaterials
Volume13
Issue number9
Publication statusPublished - 25 Apr 2023
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

WOS 000987606300001
PubMed 37177011

Keywords

Keywords

  • anisotropic conductance, gold nanorods, self-assembly, Self-assembly, Anisotropic conductance, Gold nanorods