Nucleation, Growth, and Aggregation of Ag Clusters on Liquid Surfaces

Gao-Xiang Ye; Thomas Michely; Volker Weidenhof; Inés Friedrich; Matthias Wuttig

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.81.622

Nucleation, Growth, and Aggregation of Ag Clusters on Liquid Surfaces

Gao-Xiang Ye, Thomas Michely, Volker Weidenhof, Inés Friedrich, and Matthias Wuttig

Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 622 – Published 20 July 1998

Abstract

We report the formation of large, branched silver aggregates after deposition of Ag on silicone oil surfaces. The origin of these ramified aggregates is traced to a two stage process, the first of which involves nucleation and growth of disk-shaped Ag clusters during deposition. In the subsequent stage after deposition, the clusters continue to diffuse on the liquid surface by Brownian motion and finally aggregate.

Received 16 December 1997

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.81.622

Authors & Affiliations

Gao-Xiang Ye^1,2, Thomas Michely^1,*, Volker Weidenhof¹, Inés Friedrich¹, and Matthias Wuttig^1,†

¹Institut für Grenzflächenforschung und Vakuumphysik, Forschungszentrum Jülich, D-52425 Jülich, Germany
²Department of Physics, Hangzhou University, Hangzhou 310028, People's Republic of China

^*Corresponding author. Present address: I. Physikalisches Institut, RWTH Aachen, D-52056 Aachen, Germany. Electronic address: michely@physik.rwth-aachen.de
^†Permanent address: I. Physikalisches Institut, RWTH Aachen, D-52056 Aachen, Germany.