Abstract
In this work, we demonstrated a facile approach for fabrication of Au nanoflowers (Au NFs) using an amino-containing organosilane, 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES), as a shape-directing agent. In this approach, the morphology of the Au particles evolved from sphere-like to flower-like with increasing the concentration of APTES, accompanied by a red shift in the localized surface plasmon resonance peak from 520 to 685 nm. It was identified that the addition of APTES is profitable to direct the preferential growth of the (111) plane of face-centered cubic gold and promote the formation of anisotropic Au NFs. The as-prepared Au NFs, with APTES on their surface, presented effective catalytic and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) performances, as evidenced by their applications in catalyzing the dimerization of p-aminothiophenol and monitoring the reaction process via in situ SERS analysis.
Highlights
Au nanoflowers (Au NFs) have aroused particular interests owing to the existence of “hot spots” distributed on their rough surface and a significantly enhanced electromagnetic field around the junctions and sharp tips, beneficial for their applications in catalysis and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS).[1−12] Usually, surfactants are necessary to be employed as shape-directing agents to direct the preferential growth of the Au particles, along a definite lattice plane of facecentered cubic gold, to form the anisotropic Au NFs.[13−20] For example, Wang et al reported the growth of anisotropic Au NFs by passivating the (111) facet of fcc gold using (1-hexadecyl)trimethylammonium chloride as a “faceblocking” agent.[21]
3-Aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) is an amino-containing organosilane, which is commonly used for the modification of the silica surface and can provide active amino sites for anchoring or growth of Au particles.[25−27] In this work, we demonstrated a facile approach for the synthesis of Au NFs using APTES as a shape-directing agent
The morphology of the Au particles evolved from sphere-like to flower-like with increasing the concentration of APTES introduced into the reaction solutions, accompanied with a red shift of the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) peak from 520 to 685 nm, attributed to the promoted preferential growth of the (111) plane of fcc gold by APTES
Summary
Au nanoflowers (Au NFs) have aroused particular interests owing to the existence of “hot spots” distributed on their rough surface and a significantly enhanced electromagnetic field around the junctions and sharp tips, beneficial for their applications in catalysis and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS).[1−12] Usually, surfactants are necessary to be employed as shape-directing agents to direct the preferential growth of the Au particles, along a definite lattice plane of facecentered cubic (fcc) gold, to form the anisotropic Au NFs.[13−20] For example, Wang et al reported the growth of anisotropic Au NFs by passivating the (111) facet of fcc gold using (1-hexadecyl)trimethylammonium chloride as a “faceblocking” agent.[21]. 3-Aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) is an amino-containing organosilane, which is commonly used for the modification of the silica surface and can provide active amino sites for anchoring or growth of Au particles.[25−27] In this work, we demonstrated a facile approach for the synthesis of Au NFs using APTES as a shape-directing agent. In this approach, the morphology of the Au particles evolved from sphere-like to flower-like with increasing the concentration of APTES introduced into the reaction solutions, accompanied with a red shift of the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) peak (λmax) from 520 to 685 nm, attributed to the promoted preferential growth of the (111) plane of fcc gold by APTES. The resulting Au NFs presented effective catalytic and SERS performances,[28] making them act as both the catalyst to promote the dimerization of p-aminothiophenol and as an in situ SERS substrate to monitor the reaction process
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