Bottom-up mechanical nanometrology of granular Ag nanoparticles thin films

G. Benetti

First

Investigation

;C. Caddeo

Second

Investigation

;C. Melis

Investigation

;G. Ferrini

Investigation

;C. Giannetti

Investigation

;N. Winckelmans

Investigation

;S. Bals

Investigation

;M. J. Van Bael

Investigation

;E. Cavaliere

Investigation

;L. Gavioli

Penultimate

Investigation

;F. Banfi

Last

Supervision

2017-01-01

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Abstract

Ultrathin metal nanoparticles coatings, synthesized by gas-phase deposition, are emerging as go-to materials in a variety of fields ranging from pathogens control and sensing to energy storage. Predicting their morphology and mechanical properties beyond a trial-and-error approach is a crucial issue limiting their exploitation in real-life applications. The morphology and mechanical properties of Ag nanoparticle ultrathin films, synthesized by supersonic cluster beam deposition, are here assessed adopting a bottom-up, multi technique approach. A virtual film model is proposed merging high resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy, supersonic cluster beam dynamics, and molecular dynamics simulations. The model is validated against mechanical nano-metrology measurements and is readily extendable to metals other than Ag. The virtual film is shown to be a flexible and reliable predictive tool to access morphology-dependent properties such as mesoscale gas-dynamics and elasticity of ultrathin films synthesized by gas-phase deposition.