Generation of room-temperature atmospheric H2/Ar microplasma jet driven with pulse-modulated ultrahigh frequency and its application to gold nanoparticle preparation

We developed a technique to prepare gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) by wire spraying employing a room-temperature atmospheric H2/Ar microplasma jet driven with pulsing ultrahigh frequency and to subsequently deposit the AuNPs on nonheat-resistant materials such as paper in ambient air without apparent damage. In this technique, the application of a pulse waveform with higher voltage but rather low duty cycle effectively lowered the time-averaged gas temperature and facilitated preparing AuNPs. The size, crystallinity, and optical absorption of the prepared AuNPs were characterized, and the derivation and size evolution mechanisms were simply discussed based on the characterizations.