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Effect of large ammonium cations on the aggregation kinetics of citrate capped gold nanoparticles

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Abstract

It is known that citrate capped gold nanoparticles (Ct-AuNP) aggregate when an electrolyte is added to the medium due to the electrostatic screening produced by the cations on the nanoparticle surface. Small cations are mostly employed when studying this effect. Instead, here we use the large monovalent cations coming from tetrabutylammonium chloride (Bu4N+Cl-), tetrapropylammonium chloride (Pr4N+Cl-) and tetraethylammonium chloride (Et4N+Cl-) in order to induce the aggregation of Ct-AuNP of 20 nm of hydrodynamic diameter. Then, we have followed the aggregation kinetics by means of dynamic light scattering and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy. Also, we have measured the zeta potential and taken transmission electron microscopy images. We show that these large cations produce a quick aggregation which is stronger as larger is the cation. Thus, the results indicate that larger cations screen more efficiently the Ct-AuNP surface which can be ascribed to the weaker hydration of larger cations. On the other hand, the greater destabilising effect produced by larger cations is in agreement with the direct Hofmeister series.

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Funding

This study was supported by Fundación Séneca (Comunidad Autónoma de la Región de Murcia, Spain) with grant number 20933/PI/18 and European Union “NextGenerationEU”/PRTR" through the project TED2021-130334B-I00.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physical Chemistry, University of Murcia, 30100, Murcia, Spain

    Carmen María Almagro-Gómez, José García de la Torre & Jose Gines Hernandez-Cifre

  2. Department of Analytical Chemistry, University of Murcia, 30100, Murcia, Spain

    Joaquín Ángel Ortuño

Authors
  1. Carmen María Almagro-Gómez
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  2. Joaquín Ángel Ortuño
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  3. José García de la Torre
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  4. Jose Gines Hernandez-Cifre
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Contributions

Conceptualization and methodology, J.A.O. and J.G.H.-C.; investigation, C.M.A.-G., J.A.O. and J.G.H.-C.; visualization, C.M.A.-G. and J.G.H.-C.; formal analysis, C.M.A.-G., J.A.O. and J.G.H.-C.; validation and supervision, J.A.O., J.G.T. and J.G.H.-C.; writing—original draft preparation, J.G.H.-C.; writing—review and editing J.G.T. and J.G.H.-C.; resources and project administration J.G.T. and J.G.H.-C.; funding acquisition, J.G.T. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jose Gines Hernandez-Cifre.

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Almagro-Gómez, C.M., Ortuño, J.Á., de la Torre, J.G. et al. Effect of large ammonium cations on the aggregation kinetics of citrate capped gold nanoparticles. J Nanopart Res 25, 175 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-023-05825-z

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