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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Dec 12, 2025

Microscopic Visualization of Porous Nanographenes Synthesized through a Combination of Solution and On-Surface Chemistry

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Published on: March 4, 2021

Manipulating chemistry through nanoparticle morphology.

Lucio Litti¹, Javier Reguera², F Javier García de Abajo³

¹Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Padova, via Marzolo 1, 35131 Padova, Italy. lucio.litti@unipd.it.

Nanoscale Horizons

|August 7, 2020

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Surface morphology of gold nanostars controls local proton density, influencing molecular protonation chemistry. This discovery offers a new way to control chemical reactions using surface structure.

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Area of Science:

Nanotechnology
Surface Chemistry
Spectroscopy

Background:

Anisotropic nanoparticles offer unique surface properties.
Protonation chemistry is crucial in many chemical and biological processes.
Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is a powerful tool for molecular analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the influence of gold nanostar surface morphology on the protonation of adsorbed molecules.
To demonstrate control over local chemical environments near nanoparticles.

Main Methods:

Utilized gold nanostars with anisotropic surface morphology.
Employed surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy.
Analyzed mercaptobenzoic acid and 4-aminobenzenethiol molecules adsorbed on nanostars.
Applied mild thermal treatment to alter nanostar tip morphology.

Main Results:

Observed changes in molecular protonation states correlating with nanostar surface morphology.
Demonstrated that smoothing nanostar tips induced changes in SERS spectra, indicating altered protonation.
Provided direct evidence of morphology-dependent local proton density.

Conclusions:

The surface morphology of anisotropic nanoparticles significantly impacts the local chemical environment.
Surface morphology can be used to actively control the protonation chemistry of adsorbed molecules.
This provides a novel approach for manipulating chemistry at the nanoscale.