Transformation of thiolated chitosan-templated gold nanoparticles to huge microcubes

Journal Article · Thu May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Materials Research Bulletin

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/J.MATERRESBULL.2014.01.044· OSTI ID:22348634

Sun, Yudie ^[1]; Liu, Honglin ^[2]; Yang, Liangbao ^[2]; Sun, Bai; Liu, Jinhuai ^[2]

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1. School of Chemistry and Materials Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026 (China)
2. Institute of Intelligent Machines, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031 (China)

Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • Mercapto groups were grafted to chitosan molecule by a reactive amine reduction. • Functional polymer with well-defined monomer units controls AuNPs assembly. • Assembled morphologies depend on the ratio of AuNPs to thiolate groups. • Microcubes with side length of ∼20 μm was synthesized through a dialysis step. • A edge-to-middle growth mechanism of gold microcubes was observed. - Abstract: The L-cysteine molecules were successfully grafted to the 2-amino group of chitosan by a reactive amine reduction, and the as-synthesized thiolated chitosan (TC) molecules were used as the templates to direct the self-assembly of gold nanoparticles and induce the transformation of these assemblies to gold microcubes through a deep-going dialysis. We found that the ratio of gold nanoparticles to TC molecules could greatly affect the shape of the assembled clusters. Different stages of these clusters and microstructures during the dialysis process were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), and the microcubes with average side length of about 20 μm were successfully synthesized. According to the morphology evolution of the assembly, it could be concluded that the microcubes were formed from external to internal. The SERS area mapping images of microcubes and some clusters were also collected to study the formation mechanism of gold microcubes. Our work demonstrates a simple and highly effective way to assemble gold nanoparticles into microcubes with unique properties.

• OSTI ID: 22348634
• Journal Information: Materials Research Bulletin, Vol. 53; Other Information: Copyright (c) 2014 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved.; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0025-5408
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
37 INORGANIC
ORGANIC
PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
ABSORPTION SPECTROSCOPY
AMINES
CYSTEINE
DIALYSIS
INFRARED SPECTRA
MICROSTRUCTURE
MOLECULES
MONOMERS
NANOPARTICLES
OLIGOSACCHARIDES
POLYMERS
RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY
SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
SYNTHESIS