Synthesis of single-crystal gold nano- and microprisms using a solvent-reductant-template ionic liquid

A single-step procedure to obtain variable-sized nano- and microprisms of gold in ionic liquids is presented. Using an ionic liquid, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate (bmimPF(6)), as a solvent for the An precursor as well as the reducing reagent for the reaction, one can control the size of the produced gold nanostructures, By varying the reaction time, prismatic particles with a very broad size range of 3-20 mu m in diameter and 10-400 nm in thickness were obtained. Using an alternative ionic liquid, 1-butyl-3-methyl-imidazolium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonimide) (bmimTf(2)N), uniform, single-crystal nano- and microprisms with an even larger size of about 100 mu m in diameter were prepared. Large gold prisms of this type could be useful as a support for adsorbed species, as functional thin films, or as a conducting support for molecular electronics. ((C) Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2008).