Collective amplification of nearby nanoparticles in the Coulomb blockade restricted charging of a single nanoparticle

The characterization of charges in oxide supported metal nanoparticles (NP) is of high interest in research fields like heterogeneous catalysis and microelectronics. A general desire is to manipulate the charge of an oxide supported single NP and to characterize afterwards the charge and its interference with the insulating support but also with nearby NPs in the vicinity. By using noncontact AFM (nc-AFM) and Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM)...