Self-Assembled Nanoparticle Drumhead Resonators

The self-assembly of nanoscale structures from functional nanoparticles has provided a powerful path to developing devices with emergent properties from the bottom-up. Here we demonstrate that freestanding sheets self-assembled from various nanoparticles form versatile nanomechanical resonators in the megahertz frequency range. Using spatially resolved laser-interferometry to measure thermal vibrational spectra and image vibration modes, we show that their dynamic behavior is in excellent agreement with linear elastic response for prestressed drumheads of negligible bending stiffness. Fabricated in a simple one-step drying-mediated process, these resonators are highly robust and their inorganic-organic hybrid nature offers an extremely low mass, low stiffness, and the potential to couple the intrinsic functionality of the nanoparticle building blocks to nanomechanical motion.