Chitosan-mediated synthesis of gold nanoparticles by UV photoactivation and their characterization

Recent researches have largely been focused on chitosan, which is deacetylated chitin, the most abundant natural polysaccharide after cellulose. In this paper, we report the fabrication of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) by UV photoactivation in the presence of biopolymeric chitosan and the tracing of the gold salt solution aging. Detailed UV-visible spectroscopy study witnessed the evolution of the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) adsorption during the GNP growth. The effect of chitosan in aqueous solution for the GNP preparation was investigated in detail. The results indicated the size and distribution of GNPs could be controlled over by altering the concentration of chitosan, and the GNP growth during aging was a chitosan-mediated autocatalytic process. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) showed the hydroxyl in molecular chitosan was oxidized to carbonyl groups in the fabrication of GNPs after aging and nitrogen atoms are the main sites for the complexation of chitosan with Au atoms. Our synthesis method in the present way can be used to form self-assemble monolayers of GNPs and fabricate biosensors based on surface plasmon resonance effect.