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Nano Research 2016, 9(4): 1125-1134 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-016-1007-z
Research Article | Issue | Published: 04 March 2016

Visually monitoring the etching process of gold nanoparticles by KI/I2 at single-nanoparticle level using scattered-light dark-field microscopic imaging

Show Author's Information Shanshan Sun1,  Mingxuan Gao1,  Gang Lei2,  Hongyan Zou2,  Jun Ma1,  Chengzhi Huang1,2( )
Key Laboratory of Luminescent and Real-Time Analytical Chemistry (Southwest University)Ministry of EducationCollege of Chemistry and Chemical EngineeringSouthwest UniversityChongqing400715China
College of Pharmaceutical SciencesSouthwest UniversityChongqing400716China
Keywords:
gold nanoparticles, dark-field imaging, etching mechanism, scattered light
Cite this article:
Sun S, Gao M, Lei G, et al. Visually monitoring the etching process of gold nanoparticles by KI/I2 at single-nanoparticle level using scattered-light dark-field microscopic imaging. Nano Research, 2016, 9(4): 1125-1134. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-016-1007-z
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Real-time monitoring of reaction processes is helpful for understanding the reaction mechanisms. In this study, we investigated the etching mechanism of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) by iodine on a single-nanoparticle level because AuNPs have become important nanoprobes with applications in sensing and bioimaging fields owing to their specific localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) properties. By using a scattered-light dark-field microscopic imaging (iDFM) technique, the in situ KI/I2-treated etching processes of various shapes of AuNPs, including nanospheres (AuNSs), nanorods (AuNRs), and nanotrigonal prisms (AuNTs), were monitored in real time. It was found that the scattered light of the different shapes of AuNPs exhibited noticeable color changes upon exposure to the etching solution. The scattering spectra during the etching process showed obvious blue-shifts with decreasing scattered intensity owing to the oxidation of Au atoms into [AuI2]–. Both finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations and monitoring of morphological variations proved that the etching was a thermodynamic-dependent process through a chamfering mechanism coupled with layer-by-layer peeling, resulting in isotropic spheres with decreased particle sizes.


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Electronic supplementary material
About this article

Visually monitoring the etching process of gold nanoparticles by KI/I2 at single-nanoparticle level using scattered-light dark-field microscopic imaging

Show Author's information Shanshan Sun1, Mingxuan Gao1, Gang Lei2, Hongyan Zou2, Jun Ma1, Chengzhi Huang1,2( )
Key Laboratory of Luminescent and Real-Time Analytical Chemistry (Southwest University)Ministry of EducationCollege of Chemistry and Chemical EngineeringSouthwest UniversityChongqing400715China
College of Pharmaceutical SciencesSouthwest UniversityChongqing400716China

Abstract

Real-time monitoring of reaction processes is helpful for understanding the reaction mechanisms. In this study, we investigated the etching mechanism of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) by iodine on a single-nanoparticle level because AuNPs have become important nanoprobes with applications in sensing and bioimaging fields owing to their specific localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) properties. By using a scattered-light dark-field microscopic imaging (iDFM) technique, the in situ KI/I2-treated etching processes of various shapes of AuNPs, including nanospheres (AuNSs), nanorods (AuNRs), and nanotrigonal prisms (AuNTs), were monitored in real time. It was found that the scattered light of the different shapes of AuNPs exhibited noticeable color changes upon exposure to the etching solution. The scattering spectra during the etching process showed obvious blue-shifts with decreasing scattered intensity owing to the oxidation of Au atoms into [AuI2]–. Both finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations and monitoring of morphological variations proved that the etching was a thermodynamic-dependent process through a chamfering mechanism coupled with layer-by-layer peeling, resulting in isotropic spheres with decreased particle sizes.

Keywords: gold nanoparticles, dark-field imaging, etching mechanism, scattered light

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Publication history
Copyright
Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 08 November 2015
Revised: 03 January 2016
Accepted: 05 January 2016
Published: 04 March 2016
Issue date: April 2016

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC, No. 21535006).

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