Study of Injection and Retention of Charges in Silica-Based Nanocomposite Dielectrics: Impact of Size of Silver Nanoparticles

It is well-known that dielectric materials store charges when they are subjected to an electric field. Recently, nanocomposite materials were identified as promising candidates to tune this effect. This study focuses on silica-based nanocomposites containing a single plane of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) embedded at 5 nm under the surface. More particularly, the influence of AgNPs size on charges injection and retention is investigated. The electrical charges are injected locally by using an Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) tip and the related surface potential profile is probed by Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy (KPFM). The results show that proper selection of the size of AgNPs allows a fine control of the charges dynamics.