title: Facile synthesis of hierarchical gold nanostructures and their catalytic application.
abstract: We demonstrate a one-step, surfactant-free method to prepare gold (Au) nanostructures using a synthesized aniline (ANI) derivative N-(3-amidino)-aniline (NAAN) as a reducing agent. By simply mixing NAAN with a Au precursor, raspberry-like Au particles (RSPs) were formed. The presence of Ag(+) resulted in the formation of Au nanoflowers (AuNFs). The size and shape of the AuNFs can be tuned by the reaction conditions such as the NAAN/HAuCl4 ratio, the temperature and the solvent composition. Under the same reaction conditions, bowling-pin-like particles (BPLPs) were reported for the first time using commercial ANI as a reducing agent. The AuNFs exhibited good ability to oxidize peroxidase substrate 3, 3', 5, 5'-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) by H2O2, allowing them as a peroxidase mimetic.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, 10 Kent Ridge Crescent, Singapore 119260, Singapore.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Edward Ng Siang
authors.initials: EN
authors.lastname: Yi