A rapid prototyping approach to ag nanoparticle fabrication in the 10-100 nm range

A method for the rapid prototyping of metal particles onto thin films on Pyrex substrates by using UV illumination was demonstrated. A TiO₂ precursor was deposited onto the surface of a Pyrex slide, a circular nanoporous alumna filtration membrane was placed on it and the system was dried under ambient conditions. The TiO₂ film formed spontaneously on the Pyrex and its presence was directly verified using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The alumna membrane was left in place on the Pyrex substrate when forming a silver nanoparticle array and AgNO₃ aqueous solution was introduced dropwise above it. Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) was performed to access the size, shape, and density of the Ag nanoparticles. The AFM data were employed to assemble histograms from the arrays to determine information about the particle size distribution. Results showed that the particle arrays were highly uniform over-large regions of the Pyrex sample.