Self-assembly of gold nanoparticles into chain-like structures and their optical properties

Au nanoparticles with diameters of ca. 15 nm were synthesized according to the well-developed citrate reduction method. It was found that the nanoparticles tended to attach and fuse into each other to form chain-like structures with the removal of the stabilizing agents. UV-Vis absorption and HRTEM characterizations provided solid evidence for the fused features. On the basis of the HRTEM observations, we believed the decreased surface energy as well as the dipole-dipole interaction is responsible for the formation of the chain-like structures. SERS activity investigation indicated that the intensities of the b2-type bands have close relation with the concentration of the probing molecules, which further confirmed the chemical effect character of the b2-type scatterings.