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K.Mougin1, S.Darwich1, G.Chandrasekar1, E.Gnecco2 , A.Rao2 and H. Haidara1 1Institut de Science des Matériaux de Mulhouse, 15 rue Jean Starcky, 68057 Mulhouse, France 2 NCCR Nanoscale Science and Institute of Physics, Klingelbergstr. 82, CH-4056 Basel, Switzerland The size- and shape-dependent physical properties of gold nanoparticles provide tunable materials with broad potential applications. The success of gold as the active metal in electronics and catalysis has been mainly due to the development of appropriate methods for depositing gold in the form of nanoparticles (NPs) on different supports by precipitation, physical or chemical vapor deposition, organic encapsulation, etc. The present report first deals with investigations on the first part, on synthesis of gold nanoparticles with size ranging from 1 to 100 nm and shapes varying from sphere, ellipsoid to rod and star. These nano-objects were also functionalized with organic compounds such as thiols in order to understand and control their self- or assisted assembling behavior to achieve specific 2D or 3D architectures. Then, bare and coated single NPs have been manipulated in Dynamic Mode (Tapping Mode) showing the influence of surface chemistry (hydrophobicity), shape and size on their mobility. Understanding the mechanism involved in moving these nano-objects has enabled to get information on the direction of their movement and correlation between energy dissipation and molecular interactions at interface.y |
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