Versatile film formation and phase transfer of gold nanoparticles by changing the polarity of the media

A simple method to prepare gold particles of different sizes and polydispersities is presented. The diameter of the gold particles ranges from 5 to 50 nm. All systems were prepared in either ethylene glycol or mixtures of ethylene glycol:water without adding any external reducing agent in the presence of sodium docecyl sulfate as a stabilzer and afterward transferred into chloroform or accumulated at interface in the form of film. The absence of water in ethylene glycol is a prerequisite for successful 3-dimensional self-assembly film at the interface. The free standing film was very stable and could be easily transferred on solid support. The probability of the film formation at the interface decreased with the increase in the content of water in the mixture. It was observed that as the polarity of the media increases after a certain extent, Au particles neither get transferred nor accumulated at interface and remained in the form of emulsion. However, addition of NaOH leads to the transfer process. In some cases, the phase transfer has a yield of about 100%. After drying, the particles can be re-dispersed in different nonpolar solvents. The dispersed particles were stable for at least 45 days. Characterization of the particles before and after transfer was performed by using UV/Vis spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.