Abstract
We found a novel self-organization phenomenon leading to formation of oriented one-dimensional assemblies of nanoparticles, namely nanoparticle chains. A friction-transferred poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (FT-PTFE) substrate was prepared by sliding a PTFE rod on a glass slide at elevated temperature. The nanoparticle chains were spontaneously formed in a drying drop of colloidal solution on the FT-PTFE substrate. The resulting gold nanoparticle chains showed dichroism on far-field optical observation, which was attributable to the anisotropic near-field optical interactions. Real-time polarizing light microscopy observations during the formation of the nanoparticle chains revealed that the chains were formed in the liquid phase. A specific flow pattern that was induced by convection of the colloidal solution between the basal glass slide and the FT-PTFE film was supposed to be responsible for the formation of the nanoparticle chains along with the interparticle cohesive force.
