Superlattices and Microstructures 44 (2008) 608–616 www.elsevier.com/locate/superlattices Gold nanoparticles self-assembled onto passivated glass substrates: Tuning the transition from 2D to 1D structures Chandramohan George a , Davide Ricci a,b,* , Ermanno Di Zitti a a Dipartimento di Ingegneria Biofisica ed Elettronica, Universit` a di Genova, via Opera Pia 11a, 16145 Genova, Italy b Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), via Morego 30, 16163 Genova, Italy Available online 19 March 2008 Abstract In this work, we investigate the chemical conditions for inducing a self-organized growth of 2D and 1D structures of gold nanoparticles (NPs), 50 nm diameter tri-sodium citrate stabilized, assembled onto chemically modified glass substrates through 3-Aminopropyltriethatoxysilane. The aggregation process of the nanoparticles on the silanised surface has been controlled by optimizing the concentration limit, immersion time and annealing process of NPs. A recipe to obtain the appropriate electrical charge conditions necessary for inducing the dimensionality transition of the organized nanostructures from 2D to 1D has been determined through the comparison between two deposition routes employing different polar solvents (water and ethanol). The self-organized growth of gold NPs into structures of different dimensionality has been extensively investigated by Atomic Force Microscopy and discussed. c  2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Self-assembly; Gold nanoparticles; Silanisation; Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) 1. Introduction Nanoparticle-based structures are a promising route to fabricate nanodevices as the different dimensional arrangements of NPs influence their electronic and photonic properties [1]. A great * Corresponding author at: Dipartimento di Ingegneria Biofisica ed Elettronica, Universit` a di Genova, via Opera Pia 11a, 16145 Genova, Italy. Tel.: +39 3483053863. E-mail address: davide.ricci@unige.it (D. Ricci). 0749-6036/$ - see front matter c  2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.spmi.2008.02.003