Metal nanoparticle wires formed by an integrated nanomolding-chemical assembly process: fabrication and properties.

We report here the use of nanomolding in capillaries (NAMIC) coupled with dithiocarbamate (DTC) chemistry to fabricate sub-50 nm quasi-1D arrays of 3.5 nm core gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) over large areas. Owing to chemical immobilization via the DTC bond, the patterned NP systems are stable in water and organic solvents, thus allowing the surface modification of the patterned Au NP arrays through thiol chemistry and further orthogonal binding of proteins. The electrical properties of these patterned Au NP wires have also been studied. Our results show that NAMIC combined with surface chemistry is a simple but powerful tool to create metal NP arrays that can potentially be applied to fabricate nanoelectronic or biosensing devices.