Unexpected electronic properties of micrometer-thick supracrystals of Au nanocrystals.

Yang, Peng; Arfaoui, Imad; Cren, Tristan; Goubet, Nicolas; Pileni, Marie-Paule · Nano Lett · 2012

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

We investigated the electronic properties of highly ordered three-dimensional colloidal crystals of gold nanocrystals (7 ± 0.4 nm), called supracrystals. Two kinds of Au supracrystals with typical thicknesses of 300 nm and 5 μm, respectively, are probed for the first time with scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy at 5 K revealing similar power law behavior and showing homogeneous conductance with the fingerprint of isolated nanocrystal. Potential applications evading the size-related risks of nanocrystals could be then considered.