Oat (Avena sativa) biomass was studied as an alternative to recover Au(III) ions from aqueous solutions and for its capacity to reduce Au(III) to Au(0) forming Au nanoparticles. To study the binding trend of Au(III) to oat and the possible formation of Au nanoparticles, the biomass and a solution of Au(III) were reacted for a period of 1 h at pH values ranging from 2 to 6. The results demonstrated that Au(III) ions were bound to oat biomass in a pH-dependent manner, with the highest adsorption (about 80%) at pH 3. HRTEM studies showed that oat biomass reacted with Au(III) ions formed Au nanoparticles of fcc tetrahedral, decahedral, hexagonal, icosahedral multitwinned, irregular, and rod shape. To our knowledge, this is the second report about the production of nanorods as a product of the reaction of a Au(III) solution with a biological material. These studies also showed that the pH of the reaction influenced the nanoparticle size. The smaller nanoparticles and the higher occurrence of these were observed at pH values of 3 and 4, whereas the larger nanoparticles were observed at pH 2.

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It is shown that, during electron irradiation of a thin carbon film in the presence of gold nanoparticles, fullerene onion structures are produced at a much higher rate than in the case in which no nanoparticles are present. We conclude that steps on the gold nanoparticle act as catalytic sites to promote the rearrangement of carbon atoms into caged structures. Once being nucleated, onion structures are ejected from the surface.

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Gold (Au) nanoparticles can be produced through the interaction of Au(III) ions with oat and wheat biomasses. This paper describes a procedure to recover gold nanoparticles from oat and wheat biomasses using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide or sodium citrate. Extracts were analyzed using UV-visible spectroscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), and x-ray absorption spectroscopy. The HRTEM data demonstrated that smaller nanoparticles are extracted first, followed by larger nanoparticles. In the fourth extraction, coating of chelating agents is visible on the extracted nanoparticles.