The Influence of Alkanethiols on the Production of Hydrophobic Gold Nanoparticles via Pulsed Laser Ablation in Liquids

The ability to suspend plasmonic metal nanoparticles in apolar environments is an important feat towards harnessing their optical properties for use amphiphilic biological environments. Pulsed laser Ablation Liquids (PLAL) a well-established method the production of gold (AuNPs) aqueous environments; however, ablation organic liquids synthesis hydrophobic AuNPs still has many unknowns, such as relationship between colloidal stability and ligand shell. In this study, were produced by PLAL 1-alkanethiol/n-decane solution treated with fragmentation. Results demonstrate that longer chain length ATs particles smaller average size; there was no strong correlation alkanethiol (AT) concentration particle size. Stability investigated monitoring temporal evolution extinction spectra which revealed lower concentrations AT stabilize colloids while higher tend result quicker aggregation. Furthermore, demonstrated improved stability. Additionally, vibrational spectroscopy employed examine AuNP surface chemistry, pointed presence oxidized carbon species graphitic carbon.