Fabrication of single gold particle arrays with pattern directed electrochemical deposition

A simple and efficient method for fabricating gold nanoparticle (AuNP) arrays is developed. With this method, the AuNP arrays are fabricated by taking an electrochemical deposition (ECD) process on the ITO substrate, which is initially patterned with nanoimprint lithography (NIL). The stamp for NIL is fabricated by the cost-efficient nanosphere lithography (NSL). The size of the AuNPs can be adjusted by varying the potential and duration of ECD. In this work, the diameters of AuNPs are varied from 130 to 420 nm. The AuNP arrays can be readily extended to other conductive substrates, which may be applied for detecting and sensing.