UV irradiation induced formation of single-crystal gold nanonetworks with controllable pore distribution

Single-crystal gold nanonetworks and nanoplates with novel porous structures were synthesized through a continuous UV irradiation method. The structures of the porous nanonetworks and the nanoplates were found to be citric acid concentration dependent. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed that the two-dimensional (2-D) nanonetworks prepared at the lower citric acid concentration (0.5 mM) had irregular pores and bigger area. Increasing the citric acid concentration resulted in formation of gold nanoplates with hexagonal, triangular or truncated triangular pores. When the acid concentration came to 2 mM, the nanoplates with single and double pores were observable. The selected area electron diffraction (SAED) patterns showed that both the nanonetworks and porous nanoplates were single-crystal. The presence of 1/3{4 2 2} reflections indicated that the surface of the gold nanonetwork and nanoplates is atomically flat.