Manipulation of the growth of gold and silver nanomaterials on glass by seeding approach

This paper describes the growth of gold and silver nanomaterials from their corresponding colloidal seeds on glass substrates. The glass substrates were treated with 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane (MPTMS) and then with gold or silver nanoparticle seeds (AuNPSs or AgNPSs) at different concentrations. After separately immersing the thus-prepared MPTMS-AuNPS and MPTMS-AgNPS glass substrates in aqueous solutions containing cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, ascorbic acid, and gold or silver ions, we obtained Au and Ag nanomaterials of different sizes and shapes, which we characterized through scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and dark-field microscopy (DFM). At 0.001x concentrations AuNPSs and AgNPSs (i.e., 1000-fold-diluted solutions of the as-prepared samples), Au and Ag nanomaterials having 1.36 and 5.21 mu m lengths and aspect ratios of 11 and 24 were prepared in yields of 27% and 54%, respectively. Scattering spectra of the thus-prepared single AuNRs and AgNRs revealed that the uniformity in the shape of the AuNRs was greater than that of the AgNRs. In addition, we demonstrate the preparation (using a laboratory-made synthesis system) and characterization (through DFM measurements) of Au nanomaterials, including AuNRs, from five AuNPS solutions of different concentrations on a single glass substrate.