Aggregation Behavior of Ligand-Protected Au9 Clusters on Sputtered Atomic Layer Deposition TiO2

Abstract

[Au9(PPh3)8)](NO3)3 (Au9) clusters were deposited onto sputtered ALD titania surfaces. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to determine the height and distributions of the Au9 clusters over the titania surface fabricated using atomic layer deposition (ALD). Synchrotron X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to derive information about the degree of agglomeration of the Au9 clusters due to the annealing process. Both AFM and XPS show that the Au9 clusters deposited on ALD titania are partially agglomerated after annealing. Deposition of the [Au9(PPh3)8)](NO3)3 clusters on sputtered ALD titania is compared with deposition of the same cluster on titania nanosheets of previous work.