Light wavelength influence on surface plasmon resonance in citrate–gold nanosystems

Abstract

Citrate–gold particles were yielded according to classical method of auric salt reduction in two different synthesis media aiming to use them further applications in biomedical and environmental domains. The analysis of citrate–gold interaction was done through UV–vis and IR spectroscopy as well as by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Dark Field (DF) Microscopy. Average particle size was higher for citrate–gold NPs synthesized with NaOH (32.5 nm) than for NPs synthesized with NaCl (15 nm). Dimensional histograms of one year aged colloidal suspensions presented mean size of 29 nm and respectively 18 nm. The influence of 90 min light exposure, analyzed by UV–vis, evidenced that for both NaOH synthesis protocol and NaCl protocol, plasmon band maxima at 528 nm and respectively 538 nm didn't changed, neither for white nor for green light. For one year aged samples this band shifted to 540 nm for green light irradiation in the case of citrate–gold NPs synthesized with NaOH. Also, for these NPs, both green and white light exposures resulted in plasmon band intensity changes for native as well as for aged samples. FTIR investigation showed also different changes at the level of the intensity of main vibration bands of citrate–gold after exposure to light, suggesting stronger adsorption of citrate in the case of NaCl addition in the initial reaction medium than in the case of NaOH. Finally, the utilization of NaCl in the synthesis protocol seems to favor the synthesis of more stable and lower toxicity colloidal suspensions, both during time and under the light irradiation.