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One-step growth of gold nanorods using a β-diketone reducing agent

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Abstract

The synthesis and characterisation of gold nanorods have been carried out by reduction of the gold salt HAuCl4. This has been done using a single reducing agent, acetylacetone, rather than the two reducing agents, sodium borohydride and ascorbic acid, normally required by standard wet chemistry methods of gold nanorod formation. Using this novel method, the nanorods were synthesised at several different pH values which were found to greatly affect both the rate at which the nanorods form and their physical dimensions. The concentrations of acetylacetone and silver nitrate used relative to the gold salt were found to alter the aspect ratio of the nanorods formed. Rods with an average length of 42 nm and an aspect ratio of 4.6 can be easily and reproducibly formed at pH 10 using this method. Nanorods formed under optimum conditions were investigated using TEM.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Gobierno Vasco and the Diputación Foral de Gipuzkoa for financial support through the i-NANOGUNE Etortek project and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation: Project HOPE CSD2007-0007 (Consolider-Ingenio 2010).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. New Materials Department, CIDETEC-Centre for Electrochemical Technologies, Parque Tecnológico de San Sebastián, Paseo Miramón 196, 20009, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain

    Christopher M. Tollan, Rebeca Marcilla, José A. Pomposo & David Mecerreyes

  2. CEIT, Centro de Investigaciones Técnicas de Guipuzcoa, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain

    Jon Echeberria

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  1. Christopher M. Tollan
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  2. Jon Echeberria
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  3. Rebeca Marcilla
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  4. José A. Pomposo
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  5. David Mecerreyes
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Correspondence to David Mecerreyes.

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Tollan, C.M., Echeberria, J., Marcilla, R. et al. One-step growth of gold nanorods using a β-diketone reducing agent. J Nanopart Res 11, 1241–1245 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-008-9564-z

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