Rapid Synthesis of Uniformly Small Nickel Nanoparticles for the Surface Functionalization of Epitaxial Graphene

• DOI: 10.1002/ppsc.202400141
• Publication Date: 2024-10-21T10:56:39Z
• Authors: Ylea Vlamidis; Stiven Forti; Antonio Rossi; Carmela Marinelli; Camilla Coletti; Stefan Heun; Stefano Veronesi
• Keywords: Surface Modification

Nickel nanoparticles (Ni NPs), thanks to their peculiar properties, are interesting materials for many applications including catalysis, hydrogen storage, and sensors. In this work, Ni NPs synthesized in aqueous solution by a simple rapid procedure with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as capping agent, extensively characterized dynamic light scattering (DLS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force (AFM). We investigated shape, dimension, distribution on the surfaces of SiO2 epitaxial graphene (EG) samples. have an average diameter ~11 nm, narrow size dispersion, arrangement surface is strongly dependent substrate. EG samples functionalized further X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), made after thermal annealing above 350{\deg}C confirm degradation CTAB presence metallic Ni(0). Moreover, high resolution tunneling (STM) topographies reveal structural stability up 550 {\deg}C.