Sorting of silica nanocups by diameter during fabrication process

We demonstrated a new technique to sort nanoparticles based on their dimensions. Due to the interactions between charged droplets and a nonlinear electrostatic field, nanoparticles with different dimensions were deposited at different spatial locations on a given target substrate. By using this principle, we have been able to sort nanocups into three groups with mean diameters of 0.31 μm, 0.7 μm, and 1.1 μm and a standard deviation of 20%. This technique improves the nanoparticle fabrication process not only by decreasing the standard deviation of its dimensions but also by increasing its yield since nanoparticles with different mean diameters can be generated at the same time.