Self-organization of a two-dimensional array of gold nanodots encapsulated by alkanethiol

We have studied a fabrication strategy for self-organization of a two-dimensional array of alkanethiol-encapsulated gold nanodots. The fabrication process has two steps(1) preparation of alkanethiol-encapsulated gold particles from gold colloidal particles; (2) self-organization of an ordered close-packed array of gold nanodots encapsulated by alkanethiol on a substrate. By this method, we succeeded in fabricating a wide range of ordered close-packed monolayers of gold nanodots. The simplicity, flexibility, and practicality of this method makes it a prospective procedure for developing future nanoelectronic devices.