An in situ XAFS study--the formation mechanism of gold nanoparticles from X-ray-irradiated ionic liquid
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Updated: May 10, 2026
In Situ Synthesis of Gold Nanoparticles without Aggregation in the Interlayer Space of Layered Titanate Transparent Films
Published on: January 17, 2017
Jingyuan Ma1, Yang Zou, Zheng Jiang
1Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 2019, Jia Luo Road, Jiading District, Shanghai, 201800, China.
Abstract:
An in situ X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) experiment has been performed to observe the evolution of gold nanoparticles in the ionic liquid [BMIM][AuCl4], by hard X-ray irradiation. The ionic liquid acts as both a reducing agent and a protective ligand. A synchrotron-based X-ray plays the role of the irradiation source, which induces the reduction of the gold species, as well as being a real time probe for XAFS measurements. From the extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) fitting results for a series of spectra of gold L3-edge, it can be seen clearly that there is a single Au-Cl bond breaking process before the formation of Au-Au bonds, which is different from previous reports on the formation of Au nanoparticles by several chemical methods.
