Gamma-radiation synthesis of nano/micrometer-scale single-crystalline large gold plates.

An original solution phase approach was developed for the synthesis of single-crystal Au nanoprims with anisotropic structure of triangular, hexagonal and truncated triangular, nanometre or micrometer scale, and nanometer thickness. It has been confirmed that the Fe3O4 magnetite nanoparticles and (3-aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (APTES) coated on the magnetite nanoparticles play important roles in the formation of Au nanoplates. Significantly, such Au nanoplates exhibit remarkable optical properties, both the dipole plasmon resonance and the quadrupole plasmon resonance were observed. And the selected area electron diffraction (SAED) pattern shows the nanoplates obtained were single crystals with (111) plans as two basal surfaces. The growth of gold nanoplates in the solution with time had been monitored by microscopic and spectroscopic techniques to allow the detection of several key intermediates in the growth process. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the production of large planar gold nanostructures with gamma irradiation in combination of another nanocomposite materials (APTES-Fe3O4).