Transition of temperature coefficient of conductance in weakly coupled gold nanoparticle arrays

摘要

A unique positive-to-negative transition of temperature coefficient of conductance (TCC) was observed in self-assembled close-packed Au nanoparticle (AuNP) arrays. The transition of TCC can be interpreted properly with a diffusive hopping model, in which the Coulomb charging energy E_a plays a significant role. Two parameters of AuNP arrays, the nearest neighboring number and the particle core size, have been varied to tune E_a. Our data show that the positive-to-negative transitions of TCC are relevant to both parameters, which confirms the validity of the diffusive hopping model.