SYNTHESIS FLUORESCENCE NANOFABRICATION NANOELECTRONICS FORCE MICROSCOPY EQUIPMENT
We are preparing nanomaterials of different shapes (spheres, rods, tetrapods, dumbbells) and
compostion using high-temperature organo-metallic syntheses.
We are studying the
spectroscopic and electrical
properties of these materials.
Another important aspect of our research concerns the controlled assembly of these nanoparticles
into small clusters, in the form of homogenous monolayers, pinned along edges or aligned within nanoscale devices.
Nanorod accumulation and alignment in nanoscale devices
Local electric fields generated by nanopatterned electrodes were used to control the position
and orientation of well-isolated as well as closely packed colloidal semiconducting CdTe and CdSe nanorods (NRs)
drop-cast from solution. Postdeposition imaging using transmission-electron microscopy and atomic-force microscopy
revealed strong NR alignment to the direction of the applied field and dense accumulation around and onto
voltage-biased electrodes when deposited from dilute and concentrated solutions, respectively.
The degree of alignment under the applied electric field is characterized by a nematic order
parameter S~0.8 in contrast to the zero-field case when S~0.1.
For more details on the nanorod accumulation and alignment:
Zonghai Hu, Michael D. Fischbein, Claudia Querner and Marija Drndic
"Electric-field-driven accumulation and alignment of CdSe and CdTe nanorods in nanoscale
devices"
Nano Letters 6 (11), 2585-2591, 2006.
2007, Marija Drndic