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Stable gold nanoparticles obtained in pure acetone by laser ablation with different wavelengths

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Abstract

We prepared gold nanoparticles (NPs) by ps laser ablation in pure acetone and water with 532 and 1,064 nm wavelengths. The NPs obtained in pure acetone are stable for years and, depending on the fabrication conditions, they can be very small, quasi monodisperse and fluorescent. These properties are not lost when they are transferred from acetone to water. Post-irradiation tests of the colloids with 532 nm pulses, before and after phase transfer to water, and surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), either on liquid and on dried samples, suggest that the stabilization mechanism in acetone is related to the light-induced formation on the gold surface of enolate which, in some cases, can undergo degradation with formation of amorphous carbon. Micro-SERS tests were also used to demonstrate that functionalization of the particles with 1,10-phenanthroline or adenine is possible after transfer to the water phase, which opens the way to the use of such structures for biological and medical applications, such as biocompatible fluorescent or Raman markers.

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Acknowledgments

Funding from the project NABLA (Decree n.4508—September 1, 2010 by Regione Toscana, Italy, PAR FAS 2007–2013 funds, Action 1.1.a.3) and project PRIN2009 Novel plasmon-based processes and materials for sensor applications of the Italian Ministry of Research is acknowledged. The authors also wish to thank Gabriella Caminati (Chemistry Department of the University of Firenze, Italy) and Alessio Rindi (Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry of the University of Genova, Italy) for technical assistance with ζ-potential and TEM characterizations, respectively.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. INSTM and Istituto dei Sistemi Complessi, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Via Madonna del Piano 10, Sesto Fiorentino, 50019, Florence, Italy

    Emilia Giorgetti

  2. Dipartimento di Chimica “Ugo Schiff”, Università di Firenze, Via della Lastruccia 3, 50019, Florence, Italy

    Maurizio Muniz-Miranda

  3. European Laboratory for Non-linear Spectroscopy (LENS), Via N. Carrara 1, 50019, Florence, Italy

    Maurizio Muniz-Miranda

  4. Istituto dei Sistemi Complessi, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Via Madonna del Piano 10, Sesto Fiorentino, 50019, Florence, Italy

    Paolo Marsili & David Scarpellini

  5. Department of Physics “E. Fermi”, University of Pisa, Largo Bruno Pontecorvo 3, 56127, Pisa, Italy

    Francesco Giammanco

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  1. Emilia Giorgetti
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  2. Maurizio Muniz-Miranda
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  3. Paolo Marsili
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  5. Francesco Giammanco
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Correspondence to Emilia Giorgetti.

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Giorgetti, E., Muniz-Miranda, M., Marsili, P. et al. Stable gold nanoparticles obtained in pure acetone by laser ablation with different wavelengths. J Nanopart Res 14, 648 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-011-0648-9

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