A novel one-step synthesis of gold nanoparticles in an alginate gel matrix by solution plasma sputtering

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We report a novel strategy to produce stable colloidal gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) in alginate aqueous solution which can be done in one step and without any chemicals. The AuNPs were produced by applying a voltage across a pair of gold electrodes which were immersed in alginate aqueous solution. Since the generation of AuNPs was caused by the sputtering of gold electrodes, the process was named the solution plasma sputtering (SPS) process. We utilize the alginate polymer in order to meet three important requirements: (1) to promote the generation of plasma in a liquid environment, (2) to endow biocompatibility to the AuNPs, and (3) to provide colloidal stability to the AuNPs-alginate aqueous suspensions. The alginate concentrations were varied as 0.2, 0.5, and 0.9 %w/v. The concentration-dependent effect on the particle size of AuNPs, the physical absorption property and the stability of the AuNPs-alginate suspensions were studied. Results indicate that preparation of chemical-free colloidal AuNPs-alginate aqueous suspension is successful by the SPS process. The obtained colloidal suspensions were stable and able to retain their strong plasmon absorption bands within a reasonable time period. As a consequence, this is a high-potential technique to produce AuNPs suspended in alginate aqueous solution appropriate for biomedical applications.