Desorption of nanoclusters from gold nanodispersed layers by 72 keV Au400 ions: Experiment and molecular dynamics simulation

Abstract The interaction of 72 keV Au 400 ions (with a diameter of approximately 2 nm) with nanodispersed gold targets has been studied. These interactions are dominated by elastic collisions. The gold nanodispersed target with 2–12 nm nanoislets was bombarded with a fluence of 1.7 × 10 12  ions/cm 2 . The desorbed nanoclusters were collected on carbon foils supported by TEM-grids. Intact 29 nm gold nanoclusters were found on the collectors. The desorption yield (normalized to the total cross-section of the projectile-cluster interaction) was estimated to be 0.62 nanocluster/projectile. Preliminary estimates were made using molecular dynamic simulations for comparison with the experimental results.