Self-assembled chains of graphitized carbon nanoparticles

TL;DR

This paper introduces a technique for self-assembling graphitized carbon nanoparticles into conductive chains, studying their transport properties and potential use as switchable memory links.

Contribution

It presents a novel self-assembly method for creating nanoparticle chains and analyzes their electrical behavior at low temperatures.

Findings

Chains exhibit exponential resistance at low bias voltages.

A threshold voltage induces a transition to a conducting state.

Threshold voltage decreases linearly with temperature.

Abstract

We report a technique which allows self-assembly of conducting nanoparticles into long continuous chains. Transport properties of such chains have been studied at low temperatures. At low bias voltages, the charges are pinned and the chain resistance is exponentially high. Above a certain threshold ($V_{T}$), the system enters a conducting state. The threshold voltage is much bigger than the Coulomb gap voltage for a single particle and decreases linearly with increasing temperature. A sharp threshold was observed up to about 77 K. Such chains may be used as switchable links in Coulomb charge memories.