Influence of Self-assembly Conditions on Film Formation, Optical and Electrical Properties of Gold Nanoparticle Network Film

Gold nanoparticles were grown under various sodium citrate concentration and self-assembled gold nanoparticle films were formed on a glass substrate under various conditions to examine the effect of sodium citrate concentration on the particle size of gold nanoparticles and the effect of processing time and processing temperature on the optical properties and electrical resistivity of the self-assembled gold nanoparticle film. As a result, it was found that the ratio of tetrachloroauric (III) acid to sodium citrate is preferably 1:3 was appropriate to obtain fine gold nanoparticles. The self-assembled gold nanoparticle films showed a network structure formed by nano-wires for all assembled conditions. However the thickness or the assembled state of the gold nano-wires was sensitive to the processing temperature whereas the processing time hardly affected the properties of the nano-wires. In particular, higher processing temperature led to a break in the nano-wires and then the optical properties and electrical resistivity was degraded.