Facile removal of stabilizer-ligands from supported gold nanoparticles

Abstract

Metal nanoparticles that comprise a few hundred to several thousand atoms have many applications in areas such as photonics, sensing, medicine and catalysis. Colloidal methods have proven particularly suitable for producing small nanoparticles with controlled morphologies and excellent catalytic properties. Ligands are necessary to stabilize nanoparticles during synthesis, but once the particles have been deposited on a substrate the presence of the ligands is detrimental for catalytic activity. Previous methods for ligand removal have typically involved thermal and oxidative treatments, which can affect the size or morphology of the particles, in turn altering their catalytic activity. Here, we report a procedure to effectively remove the ligands without affecting particle morphology, which enhances the surface exposure of the nanoparticles and their catalytic activity over a range of reactions. This may lead to developments of nanoparticles prepared by colloidal methods for applications in fields such as environmental protection and energy production.

Understanding the synergistic effects of gold bimetallic catalysts

“…Recently, Mou's group developed a mild method for removing surfactant by employment of nonthermal O 2 plasma [33,65], which could effectively alleviate the particle sintering induced by high temperatures. Since most surfactants can be extracted by suitable solvents under mild conditions, efforts in this direction may also be rewarded [66].…”

Laser assisted synthesis of carbon nanoparticles with controlled viscosities for printing applications

“…The molecules (ligands) on the surface of a nanoparticle decrease its activity which in turn decreases its electrical conductivity. Hence this requirement has led to expensive follow-up treatments and cleaning steps after nanoparticle synthesis, such as the calcination of catalyst supports or the filtration of nanomaterials [13].…”

The impacts of nanotechnology on catalysis by precious metal nanoparticles

“…Combining these well-defi ned supports with welldefi ned metal nanoparticles is anticipated to provide new opportunities for in-depth catalytic research. In addition to the metal nanoparticle-support interactions, the infl uence of surface ligands on particles also deserves to be carefully studied [143] . In previous work, some reports have indicated very little infl uence of ligands on catalytic performance [21] , but some indicate large effects.…”