Green synthesis and photoluminescence properties of gold nanoparticles with irregular shapes

Abstract

Inspired by several conventional ideas, the green phytosynthesis of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) has many advantages over known chemical and physical methods of preparing AuNPs. With no need for special conditions, one can use this approach for large-scale synthesis. Here, we report the green synthesis of AuNPs with irregular shapes by the bio-reduction of tetrachloroauric acid by the extract of Juniperus communis L. The resulting AuNPs were characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy, TEM, AFM, SAED, and EDX microanalysis. In the background of the unique morphology of AuNPs, we registered the blue-to-green photoluminescence with a broad plasmon signal that indicates the contributions of AuNPs with different sizes and shapes. The phytosynthesized AuNPs are promising candidates for the application in biomedicine and morphology-dependent surface plasmon resonance sensors.