Gold/carbon composite tubes and gold nanowires by impregnating templates with hydrogen tetrachloroaurate/acetone solutions

Carbon/gold composite nanotubes as well as gold nanorods were synthesized by the impregnation of porous alumina with diluted hydrogen tetrachloroaurate (HAuCl4)/acetone solutions and subsequent thermolysis at moderate temperatures. Gold(III) is reduced, whereas carbon provided by the solvent acetone is oxidized. No oxygen and chlorine remain in the tube walls, which consist of gold nanocrystals supported by amorphous carbon. If the template pores have a diameter below a certain threshold value, which is of the order of 180 nm, single-crystalline gold nanowires are obtained. The methodology presented here may allow for synthesizing carbon tubes from ordinary acetone just by annealing.