Synthesis of surfactant-free electrostatically stabilized gold nanoparticles by plasma-induced liquid chemistry

J. Patel*, L. Nemcova, P. Maguire, Bill Graham, D. Mariotti

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

170 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Plasma-induced non-equilibrium liquid chemistry is used to synthesize gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) without using any reducing or capping agents. The morphology and optical properties of the synthesized AuNPs are characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy. Plasma processing parameters affect the particle shape and size and the rate of the AuNP synthesis process. Particles of different shapes (e. g. spherical, triangular, hexagonal, pentagonal, etc) are synthesized in aqueous solutions. In particular, the size of the AuNPs can be tuned from 5 nm to several hundred nanometres by varying the initial gold precursor (HAuCl4) concentration from 2.5 mu M to 1 mM. In order to reveal details of the basic plasma-liquid interactions that lead to AuNP synthesis, we have measured the solution pH, conductivity and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) concentration of the liquid after plasma processing, and conclude that H2O2 plays the role of the reducing agent which converts Au+3 ions to Au-0 atoms, leading to nucleation growth of the AuNPs.

Original languageEnglish
Article number245604
Pages (from-to)1-11
Number of pages11
JournalNanotechnology
Volume24
Issue number24
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 21 May 2013

Keywords

  • ATMOSPHERIC-PRESSURE
  • SIZE DEPENDENCE
  • METAL NANOPARTICLES
  • OPTICAL-PROPERTIES
  • SHAPE
  • ABSORPTION
  • MICRODISCHARGES
  • NANOCRYSTALS
  • MICROPLASMAS
  • REDUCTION

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Synthesis of surfactant-free electrostatically stabilized gold nanoparticles by plasma-induced liquid chemistry'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this