1304.7167 (Gregor Hlawacek et al.)

To see or not to see: Imaging surfactant coated nano--particles using
HIM and SEM    [PDF]

Gregor Hlawacek, Imtiaz Ahmad, Mark A. Smithers, E. Stefan Kooij

Nano--particles are of great interest in fundamental and applied research. However, their accurate visualization is often difficult and the interpretation of the obtained images can be complicated. We present a comparative scanning electron microscopy and helium ion microscopy study of CTAB coated gold nano--rods. Using both methods we show how the gold core as well as the surrounding thin CTAB shell can selectively be visualized. This allows for a quantitative determination of the dimensions of the gold core or the CTAB shell. The obtained CTAB shell thickness of 1\,nm--1.5\,nm is in excellent agreement with earlier results using more demanding and reciprocal space techniques.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1304.7167