Abstract
A method was developed to fabricate periodic arrays of gold, silver, and gold-silver alloy nanocrystals by using NiO nanohoneycomb as small reaction vessels. A nickel organic solution was dropped onto the self assembled nanosphere template that was then baked in air at 350°C to remove the nanosphere and allow the formation of nickel oxide honeycomb. Gold film was deposited on the honeycomb by an ion sputter at a pressure of 50 mtorr Ar with a deposition rate of 10 nm/min. The diameter of nanocrystals formed in the nanovessel could be controlled by the film thickness and nanosphere size. High-temperature annealing provided fast mass transport of atoms and resulted in the formation of nearly spherical and identical nanocrystals. Selected-area diffraction by TEM and X-ray diffraction analysis indicate that the nanocrystals are polycrystalline and have alloy structure.