Electrical Properties of Two-Dimensional Gold Nanoparticle–Alkanethiol Networks Formed on Plastic Microbeads

Abstract

It is the ultimate goal to accurately place molecules and spaces while building electronic devices using individual molecules. In this paper, we attempt to form a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) junction on micrometer-sized plastic beads that can be placed where desired. Electron tunneling in an MIM junction formed from a two-dimensional network consisting of repeated gold nanoparticle (AuNP)-alkyl chain-AuNP sequences is evaluated by directly measuring the electrical resistivity of the microbead. A plot of the logarithm of the resistivity versus the number of carbon atoms in the alkyl chain (nc= 3-8) in each junction yields identical tunneling coefficients, β, of 8.59 ± 0.09 nm-1. The MIM junction on a microbead can be moved and arranged in any location, which enables the rapid development of miniaturized compact electronic devices. © 2013 The Electrochemical Society. All rights reserved.