Liposome induced self-assembly of gold nanoparticles into hollow spheres

Gold nanoparticles were prepared by the reduction of [(C7H15)4N]+ [AuCl4]- with 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) as reductant in toluene solution. The employed stabilizers include 3,3'-thiodipropionic acid (TDPA), 1-dodecanethiol (DDT), (+/-)-10-camphorsulfonic acid (CSA), and 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid (MUA). The reaction processes were tracked by UV-vis and FT-IR spectroscopy, and the as-prepared gold nanoparticles were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements. When TDPA and MUA, which possess both -S- and -COOH groups, were used as the stabilizer in the preparation, the as-prepared nanoparticles could self-assemble into hollow spheres. While when DDT with a -SH group or CSA with a -SO3H group was used as the protecting agents, only discrete gold nanoparticles were observed. The results show that the groups of both -S- and -COOH in the stabilizer play an important role in forming the hollow nanospheres. It is proposed that the formation mechanism of the hollow spheres is a liposome that formed between -COO- and [(C7H15)4 N]+ could act as a template to induce the self-assembly of the gold nanoparticles into the hollow spheres.