Microwave Heating for the Preparation of Nanometer Gold Particles

Abstract

In this paper we report a feasible method to synthesize gold nanoparticles with uniform size by microwave heating. In this work, a closed chamber of a microwave system with precise temperature control function was employed to synthesize the gold nanoparticles. Our data demonstrates that the temperature plays an important role in the synthesis of gold nanoparticles. With higher synthesis temperature, longer heating time duration and rapid gradient of temperature increase, the smaller diameter and the narrow size distribution of the gold nanoparticles were obtained. The concentrations of citrate represent the reductant in the synthesis reaction, which also influence the morphology of gold nanoparticles. The data demonstrates that gold nanoparticles with highly reproducible sizes could be synthesized by microwave heating.