title: Vapor-phase preparation of gold nanocrystals by chloroauric acid pyrolysis.
abstract: We report that gold nanocrystals can be prepared from vapor phase using chloroauric acid (HAuCl4) as the precursor. By tuning the vapor-phase deposition parameters, the size and space distribution of the gold nanocrystals can be well controlled on substrates. Systematic control experiments demonstrate that intermediate AuCl and AuCl3 products pyrolyzed from HAuCl4 play an essential role in this vapor-phase deposition process. Compared to conventional wet-chemical synthesis process, vapor-phase process enables direct deposition of gold nanoparticles on solid substrates with better coverage and uniformity, which may find applications in surface-enhanced Raman scattering and plasmon-enhanced photocatalysis.
authors.affiliation: College of Physics and Microelectronics, State Key Laboratory for Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, Hunan University, Hunan 410082, China.
authors.forename: Yiqin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Xuezeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: College of Physics and Microelectronics, State Key Laboratory for Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, Hunan University, Hunan 410082, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.affiliation: College of Physics and Microelectronics, State Key Laboratory for Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, Hunan University, Hunan 410082, China.
authors.forename: Xupeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, 21 Nanyang Link, 637371 Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: Hailong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: College of Physics and Microelectronics, State Key Laboratory for Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, Hunan University, Hunan 410082, China. Electronic address: duanhg@hnu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Huigao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Duan
keywords: Chloroauric acid; Gold nanocrystals; Plasmon resonance; Pyrolysis; Vapor-phase deposition