Nature of magnetism in thiol-capped gold nanoparticles investigated with Muon spin rotation

Authors

M H. Dehn, Technical University of Munich
D J. Arseneau, TRIUMF
T Buck, University of British Columbia
David L. Cortie, University of British ColumbiaFollow
D G. Fleming, University of British Columbia
Shirin King, University of Technology Sydney
W A. MacFarlane, University of British Columbia
Andrew M. McDonagh, University of Technology Sydney
R M. L McFadden, University of British Columbia
David R. G Mitchell, University of WollongongFollow
R F. Kiefl, University of British Columbia

RIS ID

121693

Publication Details

Dehn, M. H., Arseneau, D. J., Buck, T., Cortie, D. L., Fleming, D. G., King, S. R., MacFarlane, W. A., McDonagh, A. M., McFadden, R. M. L., Mitchell, D. R. G. & Kiefl, R. F. (2018). Nature of magnetism in thiol-capped gold nanoparticles investigated with Muon spin rotation. Applied Physics Letters, 112 (5), 053105-1-053105-5.

Abstract

Muon spin rotation/relaxation measurements show clear evidence for magnetism in 2.2 nm gold nanoparticles capped with butanethiol. At low temperatures (1.8 K), there is significant spin relaxation which decreases as a function of both the applied longitudinal magnetic field and increasing temperature. The results indicate that there are spatially inhomogeneous electronic moments that fluctuate with a wide distribution of correlation times. Possible explanations are discussed.