Nano to macro transition of gold nanoparticles prior to sintering

Paige Summers; Alexander Angeloski; Michael B. Cortie; Richard Wuhrer; Andrew M. McDonagh

doi:10.1007/s10854-025-15854-0

Nano to macro transition of gold nanoparticles prior to sintering

Paige Summers, Alexander Angeloski, Michael B. Cortie, Richard Wuhrer, Andrew M. McDonagh

Western Sydney University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The thermal behaviour of ligand-stabilised gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) is an important consideration when using these materials to form gold films via sintering. AuNPs stabilised with butanethiol and hexadecanethiol ligands displayed quite different properties upon heating up to their sintering temperatures. Films of AuNPs bearing the longer chain stabilising ligand hexadecanethiol become liquids at 56 °C. This temperature corresponds to the melting point of dihexadecyl disulfide, a known product that forms when such AuNPs are heated. No liquid phase was observed for butanethiol-stabilised AuNPs at any temperature. Films of the hexadecanethiol-stabilised AuNPs had high resistances (> 100 MΩ) at room temperature and the short-chain butanethiol-stabilised AuNPs had resistances in the kΩ range. Small-angle X-ray scattering data showed that the butanethiol-stabilised AuNPs begin to coarsen at ~ 140 °C whilst the hexadecanethiol particles began to coarsen ~ 90 °C.

Original language	English
Article number	1797
Number of pages	9
Journal	Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics
Volume	36
Issue number	28
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-025-15854-0
Publication status	Published - Oct 2025

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title = "Nano to macro transition of gold nanoparticles prior to sintering",

abstract = "The thermal behaviour of ligand-stabilised gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) is an important consideration when using these materials to form gold films via sintering. AuNPs stabilised with butanethiol and hexadecanethiol ligands displayed quite different properties upon heating up to their sintering temperatures. Films of AuNPs bearing the longer chain stabilising ligand hexadecanethiol become liquids at 56 °C. This temperature corresponds to the melting point of dihexadecyl disulfide, a known product that forms when such AuNPs are heated. No liquid phase was observed for butanethiol-stabilised AuNPs at any temperature. Films of the hexadecanethiol-stabilised AuNPs had high resistances (> 100 MΩ) at room temperature and the short-chain butanethiol-stabilised AuNPs had resistances in the kΩ range. Small-angle X-ray scattering data showed that the butanethiol-stabilised AuNPs begin to coarsen at ~ 140 °C whilst the hexadecanethiol particles began to coarsen ~ 90 °C.",

author = "Paige Summers and Alexander Angeloski and Cortie, {Michael B.} and Richard Wuhrer and McDonagh, {Andrew M.}",

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AU - Summers, Paige

AU - Angeloski, Alexander

AU - Cortie, Michael B.

AU - Wuhrer, Richard

AU - McDonagh, Andrew M.

PY - 2025/10

Y1 - 2025/10

N2 - The thermal behaviour of ligand-stabilised gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) is an important consideration when using these materials to form gold films via sintering. AuNPs stabilised with butanethiol and hexadecanethiol ligands displayed quite different properties upon heating up to their sintering temperatures. Films of AuNPs bearing the longer chain stabilising ligand hexadecanethiol become liquids at 56 °C. This temperature corresponds to the melting point of dihexadecyl disulfide, a known product that forms when such AuNPs are heated. No liquid phase was observed for butanethiol-stabilised AuNPs at any temperature. Films of the hexadecanethiol-stabilised AuNPs had high resistances (> 100 MΩ) at room temperature and the short-chain butanethiol-stabilised AuNPs had resistances in the kΩ range. Small-angle X-ray scattering data showed that the butanethiol-stabilised AuNPs begin to coarsen at ~ 140 °C whilst the hexadecanethiol particles began to coarsen ~ 90 °C.

AB - The thermal behaviour of ligand-stabilised gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) is an important consideration when using these materials to form gold films via sintering. AuNPs stabilised with butanethiol and hexadecanethiol ligands displayed quite different properties upon heating up to their sintering temperatures. Films of AuNPs bearing the longer chain stabilising ligand hexadecanethiol become liquids at 56 °C. This temperature corresponds to the melting point of dihexadecyl disulfide, a known product that forms when such AuNPs are heated. No liquid phase was observed for butanethiol-stabilised AuNPs at any temperature. Films of the hexadecanethiol-stabilised AuNPs had high resistances (> 100 MΩ) at room temperature and the short-chain butanethiol-stabilised AuNPs had resistances in the kΩ range. Small-angle X-ray scattering data showed that the butanethiol-stabilised AuNPs begin to coarsen at ~ 140 °C whilst the hexadecanethiol particles began to coarsen ~ 90 °C.

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Nano to macro transition of gold nanoparticles prior to sintering

Abstract

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