Enhance the structural stability of the FePt nanoparticle monolayer by adding gold overlayer

The stability during the annealing of monolayer structures and the coalescence of self-assembled FePt nanoparticles on PEI functional substrate with/without the Au overlayer were studied. During the annealing, the iron X-ray absorption K-edge was found shifted to the lower energy, which indicates a reduction of Fe atoms on the particle surface as the annealing temperature increases. Using the X-ray diffraction and anomalous grazing incidence small angle X-ray scattering technique, the nanoparticle was found to be intact under the annealing process after a 10 nm of Au overlayer was deposited on the top of FePt monolayer nanoparticles.