Alloying of metal nanoparticles by ion-beam induced sputtering

• DOI: 10.1016/j.cplett.2016.11.041
• Publication Date: 2016-11-21T19:35:45Z
• Authors: P. Magudapathy; S.K. Srivastava; P. Gangopadhyay; S. Amirthapandian; K. Saravanan; A. Das; B.K. Panigrahi
• Keywords: 02 engineering and technology; 0210 nano-technology

Abstract Ion-beam sputtering technique has been utilized for controlled synthesis of metal alloy nanoparticles of compositions that can be tuned. Analysis of various experimental results reveals the formation of Ag-Cu alloy nanoparticles on a silica substrate. Surface-plasmon optical resonance positions and observed shifts of Ag Bragg angles in X-ray diffraction pattern particularly confirm formation of alloy nanoparticles on glass samples. Sputtering induced nano-alloying mechanism has been discussed and compared with thermal mixing of Ag and Cu thin films on glass substrates. Compositions and sizes of alloy nanoparticles formed during ion-beam induced sputtering are found to exceed far from the values of thermal mixing.