# Interdisciplinary approach to tackle the nucleation and growth of large carbon molecules and mixed metal-carbon nanoparticles driven by organometallic clusters

Rémi Bérard, Christine Joblin, Sandra Wiersma, Hassan Sabbah, Camille Alauzet, Aude Simon, Fernand Spiegelman, Kremena Makasheva

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Rémi Bérard, Christine Joblin, Sandra Wiersma, Hassan Sabbah, Camille Alauzet, et al.. Interdisciplinary approach to tackle the nucleation and growth of large carbon molecules and mixed metal-carbon nanoparticles driven by organometallic clusters. 12th International Workshop on Functional Nanocomposites (Nanoworkshop 2025), Sep 2025, La Rábida, Huelva, Spain. hal-05349066

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Submitted on 5 Nov 2025

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# Interdisciplinary approach to tackle the nucleation and growth of large carbon molecules and mixed metal-carbon nanoparticles driven by organometallic clusters

Rémi Bérard¹,², Christine Joblin², Sandra Wiersma², Hassan Sabbah², Camille Alauzet³, Aude Simon³, Fernand Spiegelman³, and Kremena Makasheva¹

¹Laboratoire plasma et conversion d'énergie (LAPLACE), CNRS, INPT, Université de Toulouse, France

²Institut de recherche en astrophysique et planétologie (IRAP), CNRS, CNES, Université de Toulouse, France

³Laboratoire de chimie et physique quantiques (LCPQ), Institut FeRMI, CNRS, Université de Toulouse, France

The ANR GROWNANO is motivated by the need to understand the formation of carbonaceous/organosilicon dust in the presence of metal atoms (Fe, Ag, Ti, Al, Mg) with expected impact in the field of astrophysics and that of new materials for nanoelectronics. Astrochemical models currently do not take into account the role of metals in the nucleation and growth of carbonaceous dust. GROWNANO investigates the role of organometallic complexes and nanoclusters in these processes (Figure 1). These studies also provide useful guidelines for a better control of nanoparticle synthesis.

GROWNANO makes use of complementary reactors. The laser vaporization (LVAP) reactor on the PIRENEA 2 setup at IRAP allows us to investigate the first steps of nucleation and growth whereas the formation of the nanoparticles in the plasma gas phase is studied using the Plasma reactor at LAPLACE, which brings physical and chemical complexity with respect to LVAP. A variety of *in-situ* and *ex-situ* analytical methods are used to characterize the materials synthesized in the two reactors [1, 2]. In addition, a computational reactor investigates reaction dynamics and makes the bridge between the two size scales by using DFT methods for small species and approximated DFTB methods for larger ones [3]. Current challenges and results of this collaborative interdisciplinary work will be presented.

<figure><img src="image_2.png" /><figcaption>**Fig. 1.** The different scales explored in the ANR GROWNANO project.</figcaption></figure>

**Keywords:** carbon/metal nanoparticles, nucleation and growth, nanostructured thin layers, DFT computational methods

**References:**

1. R. Bérard, K. Makasheva, H. Sabbah, A. Simon, D. Nunez Reyes, F. Mastrorocco, K. Demyk, C. Joblin, "Impact of metals on (star)dust chemistry: a laboratory astrophysics approach," *Front. Astron. Space Sci.* **8** 654879 (2021).

2. R. Bérard, V. Garofano, C. Joblin, L. Stafford, and K. Makasheva, "Layer-by-layer structured nanocomposite deposits from plasma-synthesized organosilicon nanoparticles and organosilicon nanoparticles decorated with Ag nanoparticles by taking advantage of cyclic nanoparticle formation in Ar/HMDSO reactive plasmas," *Frontiers in Nanotechnology* **6** 1337571 (2024).

3. C. Alauzet, F. Spiegelman, A. Simon "Modeling silver clusters-hydrocarbon interactions: a challenge for SCC-DFTB," *Comput. Theor. Chem.* **1239** 114744 (2024).

**Acknowledgements:**

This work was supported by the French "Agence Nationale de la Recherche", project ANR GROWNANO (ANR-21-CE29-0001).