Precision Nickel Coating of Complex Nanostructures with Commercially Available ALD Precursors

High Resolution Image Download MS PowerPoint Slide Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) is a scalable, solvent-free synthesis technique that is routinely used for the deposition of thin films with sub-Angstrom precision. The coating of nonplanar substrates via particle ALD (p-ALD) can furnish nanoparticles and single atom catalysts with extreme precision, scalability and reproducibility. Unlike widely explored ALD synthesis of metal oxides and nitrides, however, practical ALD processes for the deposition of non-noble metals remain scarce. Here we show that commercially available nickel hexafluoroacetylacetonate and dimethylamine borane precursors can be used for the deposition of nickel nanoparticles with minimal carbon impurities at 200 °C. Nickel p-ALD on noble metal surfaces such as platinum or gold takes place at only 100 °C, which enables a solvent-free synthesis of core–shell nanoparticles for which the thickness of the Ni shell can be varied with exquisite precision.