Journal
LIQUID CRYSTALS
Volume 41, Issue 3, Pages 265-276Publisher
TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
DOI: 10.1080/02678292.2013.798691
Keywords
metal nanoparticles; template synthesis; lyotropic liquid crystals; gold nanostars
Funding
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada
- Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI)
- Manitoba Research and Innovation Fund (MRIF)
- Province of Manitoba (Science and Technology International Collaboration Fund)
- Ohio Third Frontier's Ohio Research Scholar Program at the Liquid Crystal Institute
- Government of Canada
Ask authors/readers for more resources
We describe a simple, one-pot, silver-assisted synthesis of branched gold nanoparticles (GNPs) (nanostars) using Ag NO3 and the mild reducing agent, ascorbic acid, in the presence of a lyotropic liquid crystal (LLC) template formed by Triton X-100 in water either in the hexagonal phase or the micellar phase above the critical micellar concentration. The LLC template is found to assist in the formation of well-defined nanostars with long, twinned thorns and provides the necessary colloidal stability that prevents the final nanostars from irreversible aggregation. In addition, the length of the thorns on the nanostars can be tailored by controlling the Au/Ag ratio in the growth solution. We discuss the contributions of the competing mechanisms that result in an optimal concentration of AgNO3 for the synthesis of nanostars with considerably longer thorns, which is only possible in the LLC template that slows down the growth of the thorns on the initially formed GNP seeds.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available