Nanoscience

Stardust presents outstanding capabilities for the fabrication of well-controlled, ultrapure nanoparticles with complex architectures and accurate stoichiometry. The sputtering gas aggregation source houses three independent sources that can be arranged in different configurations by varying their relative positions. In this way, single-element, alloy, core-shell, or core-shell-shell nanoparticles can be produced. Additionally, a dedicated gas inlet to the aggregation zone allows for the production of, for instance, metal oxide nanoparticles with adjustable stoichiometry.

All these capabilities in nanoparticle production are complemented with the ability of nanoparticle deposition on arbitrary surfaces and with a battery of in-situ characterization techniques.

The range of applications of the nanoparticles are broad including catalysis, sensors, energy, optoelectronics, magnetism and biomedicine.

Selected bibliography

  • E. Fernández-García, P. Merino, N. González-Rodríguez, L. Martínez, M. del Pozo, J. Prieto, E. Blanco, G. Santoro, C. Quintana, M.D. Petit-Domínguez, E. Casero, L. Vázquez, J. I. Martínez and J.A. Martín-Gago, “Enhanced Electrocatalysis on Copper Nanostructures: role of the Oxidation State in Sulfite Oxidation” ACS Catal. 14, 11522−11531 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1021/acscatal.3c05897
  • N. Daems, D. Choukroun, P. Merino, C. Rettenmaier, L. Pacquets, A. Bergmann, G. Santoro, L. Vázquez, L. Martínez, B. Roldán Cuenya, J.A. Martín-Gago and T. Breugelmans, “Steering Hydrocarbon Selectivity in CO2 Electroreduction over Soft-Landed CuOx Nanoparticle-Functionalized Gas Diffusion Electrodes”, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 14, 2691-2702 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.1c17998
  • L. Martínez, K. Lauwaet, G. Santoro, J. M. Sobrado, R. J. Peláez, V. J. Herrero, I. Tanarro, G. Ellis, J. Cernicharo, C. Joblin, Y. Huttel, and J. A. Martín-Gago “Precisely controlled fabrication, manipulation and in-situ analysis of Cu based nanoparticles”, Sci. Rep. 8, 7250 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-25472-y