Towards a Reproducible Synthesis of High Aspect Ratio Gold Nanorods

Abstract

The seed-mediated method in presence of high concentrations of CTAB is frequently implemented in the preparation of high aspect ratio gold nanorods (i.e., nanorods with aspect ratios of 5 or more); however, the reproducibility has still been limited. We rendered the synthesis procedure simpler, decreased the susceptibility to impurities, and improved the reproducibility of the product distribution. As a result of the high aspect ratios, longitudinal plasmon absorptions were shifted up to very high absorption maxima of 1955 nm in UV-vis-NIR spectra (since this band is completely covered in aqueous solution by the strong absorption of water, the gold species were embedded in poly(vinyl alcohol) films for UV-vis-NIR measurements). Finally, the directed particle growth in (110) direction leads to the conclusion that the adsorption of CTAB molecules at specific crystal faces accounts for nanorod growth and not cylindrical CTAB micelles, in agreement with other observations.