Recycling size exclusion chromatography for the analysis and separation of nanocrystalline gold

Recycling size exclusion chromatography (RSEC) provides a high-resolution technique for the analysis and separation of materials based on size. We show here the application of this method to gold nanocrystals stabilized by thiols. Alternate recycling is more effective at separating nanomaterials as compared to closed-loop recycling because of its improved efficiency and high resolution. With the use of this technique, we find the resolution ratio of nanocrystal separation increases with the square root of the cycle number, in good agreement with theory. The increased resolution of the size exclusion chromatograms permits the use of RSEC in the baseline separation of nanocrystals which differ by only 6 A in size. In addition to separations, RSEC is valuable as an analytical tool. For example, after recycling processes an initially broad and chromatographic feature from a gold nanocrystal solution resolves into three distinct peaks. Transmission electron microscopy of collected fractions reveals that these peaks correspond to distinct populations of gold nanoparticles with narrowly defined sizes.