A facile one-pot synthesis of blue and red luminescent thiol stabilized gold nanoclusters: a thorough optical and microscopy study

Phys Chem Chem Phys. 2015 Sep 7;17(33):21423-31. doi: 10.1039/c5cp01773d.

Abstract

Here in this contribution, blue and red luminescent 1-dodecanethiol (DT) terminated gold nanoclusters (AuNC) were prepared by a simple two-step synthesis route where the first step involved the surfactant-free synthesis of bare AuNC in N,N'-dimethylformamide (DMF) and the second step is the termination of the as-prepared bare AuNC by 1-dodecanethiol. The blue and red luminescent DT-terminated AuNC were isolated by a solvent-induced precipitation followed by an ultra-centrifugation technique. Both the bare AuNC and the blue and red luminescent DT-terminated AuNC exhibit stable photoluminescence and good solubility in various solvents. The photo-physical, electronic, structural, and morphological properties of the bare AuNC and the blue and red luminescent DT-terminated AuNC were examined by performing UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy, stationary and time-resolved PL spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR-ATR), and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) experiments.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Dimethylformamide / chemistry
  • Gold / chemistry*
  • Metal Nanoparticles / chemistry*
  • Microscopy, Electron, Transmission
  • Photoelectron Spectroscopy
  • Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
  • Sulfhydryl Compounds / chemistry*

Substances

  • Sulfhydryl Compounds
  • dodecylmercaptan
  • Gold
  • Dimethylformamide