Synthesis of Densely Immobilized Gold-Assembled Silica Nanostructures

In this study, dense gold-assembled SiO₂ nanostructure (SiO₂@Au) was successfully developed using the Au seed-mediated growth. First, SiO₂ (150 nm) was prepared, modified by amino groups, and incubated by gold nanoparticles (ca. 3 nm Au metal nanoparticles (NPs)) to immobilize Au NPs to SiO₂ surface. Then, Au NPs were grown on the prepared SiO₂@Au seed by reducing chloroauric acid (HAuCl₄₎ by ascorbic acid (AA) in the presence of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP). The presence of bigger (ca. 20 nm) Au NPs on the SiO₂ surface was confirmed by transmittance electronic microscopy (TEM) images, color changes to dark blue, and UV-vis spectra broadening in the range of 450 to 750 nm. The SiO₂@Au nanostructure showed several advantages compared to the hydrofluoric acid (HF)-treated SiO₂@Au, such as easy separation, surface modification stability by 11-mercaptopundecanoic acid (R-COOH), 11-mercapto-1-undecanol (R-OH), and 1-undecanethiol (R-CH₃), and a better peroxidase-like catalysis activity for 5,5'-Tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) reaction. The catalytic activity of SiO₂@Au was two times better than that of HF-treated SiO₂@Au. When SiO₂@Au nanostructure was used as a surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate, the signal of 4-aminophenol (4-ATP) on the surface of SiO₂@Au was also stronger than that of HF-treated SiO₂@Au. This study provides a potential method for nanoparticle preparation which can be replaced for Au NPs in further research and development.