Solvent-Resistant Ultraflat Gold Using Liquid Glass

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• 作者：James T. Hugall ; Alexander S. Finnemore ; Jeremy J. Baumberg ; Ulrich Steiner ; Sumeet Mahajan
• 刊名：Langmuir
• 出版年：2012
• 出版时间：January 17, 2012
• 年：2012
• 卷：28
• 期：2
• 页码：1347-1350
• 全文大小：269K
• 年卷期：v.28,no.2(January 17, 2012)
• ISSN：1520-5827

文摘

Templating against atomically flat materials allows creation of smooth metallic surfaces. The process of adding the backing (superstrate) to the deposited metals has proven to be the most difficult part in producing reliable, large-area, solvent-resistant substrates and has been the subject of recent research. In this paper we describe a simple and inexpensive liquid glass template-stripping (lgTS) method for the fabrication of large area ultraflat gold surfaces. Using our lgTS method, ultraflat gold surfaces with normals aligned along the 111 crystal plane and with a root-mean-square roughness of 0.275 nm (over 1 渭m²) were created. The surfaces are fabricated on silica-based substrates which are highly solvent resistant and electrically insulating using silicate precursor solution (commonly known as 鈥渓iquid glass鈥? and concomitant mild heat treatment. We demonstrate the capabilities of such ultraflat gold surfaces by imaging nanoscale objects on top and fabricating microelectrodes as an example application. Because of the simplicity and versatility of the fabrication process, lgTS will have wide-ranging application in imaging, catalysis, electrochemistry, and surface science.