A high-efficiency capillary electrophoresis-based method for characterizing the sizes of Au nanoparticles.
In this paper, we present a highly efficient capillary electrophoresis (CE)-based method for characterizing the sizes of Au nanoparticles (NPs). We used the reversed electrode polarity stacking mode (REPSM) of CE for on-line enhancement of the detection and separation of Au NPs. Under the on-line enhancement separation conditions [buffer: SDS (70 mM) and 3-cyclohexylamino-1-propanesulfonic acid (10 mM) at pH 10.0; applied voltage: 20 kV; using the REPSM for sample concentration], the detection sensitivity toward the Au NPs improved by up to 260-fold. A linear relationship (R(2)=0.994) existed between the electrophoretic mobilities and the sizes of the Au NPs within the range of diameters from 5.3 to 59.9 nm; the relative standard deviations of the electrophoretic mobilities for these NPs were below 0.6%. When using these conditions to analyze Au NPs produced through seed-assisted synthesis, a good correlation existed between the sizes obtained using CE and those provided by transmission electron microscopy. Furthermore, the analyses performed using CE were rapid (<4 min) and required very low sample volumes (several nanoliters), yet they proceeded with high sensitivity. These findings confirm that CE is an efficient tool for characterizing the sizes of NPs.
Liu
Fu-Ken
FK
Department of Applied Chemistry, National University of Kaohsiung, No. 700, Kaohsiung University Rd., Nan Tzu District, Kaohsiung 811, Taiwan. fkliu@nuk.edu.tw
D019075:Electrophoresis, Capillary / Q000379:methods*; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D010316:Particle Size; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
D006046:Gold