Porous Gold Nanobelts Templated by Metal-Surfactant Complex Nanobelts

Unique, porous gold nanobelts consisting of self-organized nanoparticles were synthesized in a high yield by morphologypreserved transformation from metal-surfactant complex precursor nanobelts formed by a bolaform surfactant dodecane-1,12-bis(trimethylammonium bromide) (N-C-12-NBr2) and HAuCl4. It was revealed that the precursor nanobelts of the stoichiometric N-C-12-N(AuCl4)(2) complex formed through electrostatic combination of the positively charged quaternary ammonium headgroups of N-C-n-NBr2 and the negatively charged AuCl4- ions. They were subsequently converted into porous gold nanobelts with shrunken sizes upon reduction by NaBH4. The morphology of the produced gold nanostructures could be adjusted by changing the mixing ratio between N-C-12-NBr2 and HAuCl4 in the reaction solution. It was found that the obtained porous Au nanobelts exhibited enhanced catalytic activity toward reduction of 4-nitrophenol compared with solid gold nanobelts, probably owing to their larger surface area and more active sites.