Laser ablation synthesis of new gold tellurides using tellurium and nanogold as precursors. Laser desorption ionisation time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Katarína Svihlová; Lubomír Prokeš; Dana Skácelová; Eladia María Peña-Méndez; Josef Havel

doi:10.1002/rcm.6613

Laser ablation synthesis of new gold tellurides using tellurium and nanogold as precursors. Laser desorption ionisation time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Rapid Commun Mass Spectrom. 2013 Jul 30;27(14):1600-6. doi: 10.1002/rcm.6613.

Authors

Katarína Svihlová¹, Lubomír Prokeš, Dana Skácelová, Eladia María Peña-Méndez, Josef Havel

Affiliation

¹ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic.

PMID: 23754797
DOI: 10.1002/rcm.6613

Abstract

Rationale: Only a few gold tellurides are known. However, Laser Ablation Synthesis (LAS) using Laser Desorption Ionisation (LDI) time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOF MS) has high potential for the generation of new compounds.

Methods: LDI of nanogold-Te conjugate using a nitrogen laser 337 nm was applied while the mass spectra were recorded in positive and negative ion modes using a quadrupole ion trap-TOF mass spectrometer equipped with a reflectron. Diffuse coplanar surface barrier discharge was applied for the plasma treatment of glass and silicon surfaces.

Results: A form of nanogold-Te conjugate was prepared and found suitable for LAS of gold tellurides. Several new Au(m)Te(n) (m = 1-11; n = 1-4) clusters were identified. An excess of nanogold and chloride or an excess of auric acid caused the formation of mixed Au(m)Te(n)Cl(x) clusters. The nanogold-Te conjugate can be deposited from an aqueous suspension onto glass while the deposition is strongly enhanced if the surface is modified by plasma.

Conclusions: LDI of nanogold-Te conjugate is a suitable procedure for the generation of new gold telluride clusters. Treatment of borosilicate glass with a diffuse coplanar surface barrier discharge strongly enhances the deposition of gold tellurides on glass while limited adsorption on a silicon surface was observed.