Synthesis of gold nanoshells based on the deposition-precipitation process

Abstract

The synthesis of gold nanoshells involves the preparation of precursor seed particles consisting of nanoparticulate gold loaded on a dielectric core as scaffolds on which the layer of gold shell can be grown. The common route in preparing these seed particles involves a two-step technique of synthesizing colloidal gold particles followed by attaching them to amine functionalized dielectric core. In this paper, we present the use of a single-step deposition-precipitation (DP) process, commonly used in the catalytic field, as a feasible alternative route to seeding gold hydroxide nanoparticles onto a silica core and growing a layer of gold shell around the core without the need for prior synthesis of colloidal gold. The various factors such as pH, temperature and time of reaction, as well as the effect of amine functionalization of silica on the deposition of gold were investigated. Compared to bare silica nanoparticles whose low isoelectric point render the DP process of seeding nanoparticulate gold unfavorable, amine functionalization of the silica surface is able to alter its isoelectric point to facilitate the deposition of gold hydroxide nanoparticles and increase the uniformity and density of seeding. We have also established that by varying the pH and time of reaction, it is possible to control the size of the gold hydroxide nanoparticles and density of seeding. The highest seeding density was achieved at pH 8 where the surface charge on the amine terminated silica surface favored the attraction of complex gold anions and the hydrolysis of these complex anions at elevated temperature produced the insoluble gold hydroxide precipitate which was readily deposited on the silica. As the time of reaction was increased from 3 min to 60 min, these gold hydroxide nanoparticles also increased in size from 2 nm to 7 nm. We have also shown the progressive growth of the gold hydroxide seeds to eventually form gold nanoshells with a complete layer of gold shell with tunable optical response.