Fig. 2.
Probing the mechanism of particle formation using AFM and SEM. (A) Large-area patterned nanoreactors loaded with gold precursors on a hydrophobic silicon substrate. (B) Example AFM image of a patterned array of nanoreactors, the diameters of which are 400 nm. (C) Ex situ SEM images that illustrate the diffusion and aggregation of gold precursors inside the polymer matrix. The images are taken from different polymer nanoreactors. (D) Typical array of as-synthesized gold nanoparticles on a hydrophobic silicon substrate and a magnified view of a single gold nanoparticle. (E) Effect of thermal annealing on the synthesis of single nanoparticles. Multiple gold nanoparticles are synthesized if annealing at Tlow is omitted. Dashed circles denote the original size of the nanoreactor.