A stochastic model, simulation, and application to aggregation of cadmium sulfide nanocrystals upon evaporation of the Langmuir–Blodgett matrix

Abstract

Abstract A stochastic model of nanocrystals clusters formation is developed and applied to simulate an aggregation of cadmium sulfide nanocrystals upon evaporation of the Langmuir–Blodgett matrix. Simulations are compared with our experimental results. The stochastic model suggested governs mobilities both of individual nanocrystals and its clusters (arrays). We give a comprehensive analysis of the patterns simulated by the model, and study an influence of the surrounding medium (solvent) on the aggregation processes. In our model, monomers have a finite probability of separation from the cluster which depends on the temperature and binding energy between nanocrystals, and can also be redistributed in the composition of the cluster, leading to its compaction. The simulation results obtained in this work are compared with the experimental data on the aggregation of CdS nanocrystals upon evaporation of the Langmuir–Blodgett matrix. This system is a typical example from real life and is noteworthy in that the morphology of nanocrystals after evaporation of the matrix cannot be described exactly by a model based only on the motion of individual nanocrystals or by a cluster-cluster aggregation model.