Growth Mechanisms and Size Control of Colloidal Metal Nanoparticles

• Applicant: Dr. Jörg Polte
• Subject Area: Physical Chemistry of Molecules, Liquids and Interfaces, Biophysical Chemistry
• Term: from 2012 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 224783783

Nanoparticles have attracted much attention due to their unique properties and promising applications. Though synthetic procedures are known and have been investigated since Faraday¿s ground-breaking experiments on gold colloids more than 150 years ago, a deeper understanding of the underlying nanoparticle formation processes is still missing. As a consequence, only a few syntheses exist for which the nanoparticle size can be controlled over a wide range. This proposal addresses these fundamental problems in colloidal science: the growth mechanisms and the size control of metal nanoparticles. For selected synthetic procedures it should be demonstrated exemplarily how a precise knowledge of the growth mechanism enables the development of synthetic strategies for a size control between 1 and 100 nm. For this purpose it is intended to conduct experimental investigations of nanoparticle growth processes. The limited knowledge about growth mechanisms is mainly caused by the absence of reliable experimental data. This lack of experimental information is in general the barrier to the design of nanoparticles in a desired manner for a broad range of applications.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants