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Observation of a crossover in kinetic aggregation of Palladium colloids

Ghafari, M ; Sharif University of Technology | 2015

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  1. Type of Document: Article
  2. DOI: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2015.07.010
  3. Publisher: Elsevier , 2015
  4. Abstract:
  5. We use field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) to investigate the growth of palladium colloids over the surface of thin films of WO3/glass. The film is prepared by Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) at different temperatures. A PdCl2 (aq) droplet is injected on the surface and in the presence of steam hydrogen the droplet is dried through a reduction reaction process. Two distinct aggregation regimes of palladium colloids are observed over the substrates. We argue that the change in aggregation dynamics emerges when the measured water drop Contact Angel (CA) for the WO3/glass thin films passes a certain threshold value, namely CA ≈ 46°, where a crossover in kinetic aggregation of palladium colloids occurs. Our results suggest that the mass fractal dimension of palladium aggregates follows a power-law behavior. The fractal dimension (Df) in the fast aggregation regime, where the measured CA values vary from 27° up to 46° according to different substrate deposition temperatures, is Df = 1.75(± 0.02) - the value of Df is in excellent agreement with kinetic aggregation of other colloidal systems in fast aggregation regime. Whereas for the slow aggregation regime, with CA = 58°, the fractal dimension changes abruptly to Df = 1.92(± 0.03). We have also used a modified Box-Counting method to calculate fractal dimension of gray-level images and observe that the crossover at around CA ≈ 46° remains unchanged
  6. Keywords:
  7. Palladium colloids ; Colloids ; Deposition ; Drops ; Fractals ; Hydrophobicity ; Kinetics ; Pulsed laser deposition ; Scanning electron microscopy ; Substrates ; Thin films ; Aggregation dynamics ; Box-counting method ; Different substrates ; Field emission scanning electron microscopes ; Mass fractal dimension ; Power-law behavior ; Reduction reaction ; Slow aggregations ; Fractal dimension
  8. Source: Applied Surface Science ; Volume 353 , 2015 , Pages 1143-1149 ; 01694332 (ISSN)
  9. URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169433215015718