Synthesis and Stabilization of Support-Free Mesoporous Gold Nanoparticles

Porous gold nanoparticles (PGNs) are usually prepared in an immobilized form on a solid substrate, which is not practical in many applications. In this work, a simple method is reported for the preparation and stabilization of mesoporous gold particles of a few hundred nanometers in size in aqueous suspension. Nanoparticles of Ag-Au alloy were fabricated on CaF 2 and Si/SiO 2 substrates by the solid-state dewetting method. Silver was selectively dissolved (dealloyed), and the resulting porous gold nanoparticles were chemically removed from the substrate either in a concerted step with dealloying, or in a subsequent step. Nitric acid was used for the one-step dealloying and detachment of the particles from CaF 2 substrate. The consecutive use of HNO 3 and HF resulted in the dealloying and the subsequent detachment of the particles from Si/SiO 2 substrate. The PGNs were recovered from the aqueous suspensions by centrifugation. The Au content of the suspensions was monitored by using elemental analysis (ICP-OES), and recovery was optimized. The morphology and the optical characteristics of the support-free PGNs were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), dynamic light scattering spectroscopy (DLS), and near-infrared spectrophotometry (NIR). The obtained PGNs are spherical disk-shaped with a mean particle size of 765 ± 149 nm. The suspended, support-free PGNs display an ideally narrow dipole plasmon peak at around 1450 nm in the NIR spectral region. Thus, the new colloidal PGNs are ideal candidates for biomedical applications, for instance photothermal therapy.