Tartrate as a substitute of citrate to prepare gold colloids from chloroauric acid

• Published in: Colloids and surfaces. A, Physicochemical and engineering aspects Vol. 535; pp. 251 - 256
• Main Authors: Liu, Na, Wang, Ke, Gao, Yuanyuan, Li, Dongxiang, Lin, Weihong, Li, Chunfang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 20.12.2017
• Subjects: Chloroauric acid; Gold colloids; Tartrate; Tartrate; Gold colloids; Chloroauric acid
• ISSN: 0927-7757; 1873-4359
• DOI: 10.1016/j.colsurfa.2017.09.017

Tartrate, a similar molecule to citrate, was demonstrated to be able to prepare gold colloids from chloroauric acid. The gold nanoparticle size was adjusted from 27 to 40nm when sodium tartrate was used as a reductant and stabilizer under different molar ratio of two reactants, while that only changed from 54 to 62nm as using tartaric acid. [Display omitted] The citrate-reduction method is extensively used to prepare gold colloids particularly in the application of biological and medical areas. Tartrate as a substitute of citrate was first employed to prepare gold colloids from chloroauric acid due to its similar chemical structures to citrate. The size of obtained monodisperse quasi-spherical gold nanoparticles was adjusted from 27nm to 40nm when changing the molar ratio of sodium tartrate to chloroauric acid, while the particle size only changed from 54 to 62nm under different molar ratio of tartaric acid to aurate. The nanoparticle size is mainly determined by the pH of reaction media in nucleation and the stabilizer concentration in the coagulation of initial nuclei for the nanoparticle growth. The majority of obtained gold nanoparticles have polycrystalline structure. This method should be important for direct one-pot preparation of gold colloids with sizes of around 30–60nm.