Driving the self assembly of gold nanoparticle structures using highly oriented PTFE templates

We present a non-conventional, low cost and simple approach for patterning gold nanoparticles (NPs) using highly oriented PolyTetraFluoroEthylene (HOPTFE) macromolecular segments on glass substrates. Transparent and stable HOPTFE templates for NP self-assembly were prepared by sliding unidirectionally a PTFE rod across a glass substrate at a fixed temperature with a constant pressure. Gold NPs, 50 nm nominal core diameter stabilized by citrate and octanethiol, have been assembled onto HOPTFE macromolecular segments using two different procedures. The first method is based on the drop casting of octanethiol capped NPs to obtain a growth of 1-D structures onto HOPTFE ridges. The second method exploits the functionalization of the glass substrate using (3-Aminopropyl)-triethatoxysilane (APTES) in order to induce the formation of 2-D structures between HOPTFE ridges. The self organized nanostructures and their morphological features have been investigated using AFM. The core size distribution of gold NPs was analyzed from TEM images.