Surfactant-Assisted Voltage-Driven Silver Nanoparticle Chain Formation across Microelectrode Gaps in Air.

Here we describe the electrodeposition of Ag in the presence of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) onto 5 μm gap Au interdigitated array (IDA) electrodes that are bare, thiol-functionalized, or thiol-functionalized and seeded with 4 nm diameter Au nanoparticles (NPs). After deposition, applying a voltage between 5 and 10 V in air for 0 to 1000 s resulted in one-dimensional (1D) Ag NP chains spanning across the IDA gap. The Ag NP chains form on IDAs functionalized with thiols and Au NP-seeded at about 5 V and at 10 V for the other nonseeded surfaces. Ag NP chains do not form at all up to 10 V when IDAs are treated with ozone or water soaking to remove possible CTA(+) ions from the surface, when Ag deposition takes place in the absence of CTAB, or when the voltage is applied under dry N2 (low humidity). Chain formation occurs by Ag moving from the positive to negative electrode. Coating the devices with a negatively charged surfactant, sodium dodecyl sulfate, also results in Ag NP chains by Ag moving from the positive to the negative electrodes, which confirms that the chains form by electrochemical oxidation at the positive electrode and deposition at the negative electrode. The surfactant ions and thin layer of water present in the humid environment facilitate this electrochemical process.