Spectroscopic characteristics of gold nanoparticles synthesized in an aqueous solution of a micelle-forming surfactant (AOT)

Gold nanoparticles were synthesized in aqueous solutions of AOT using hydrazine as the reducing agent and characterized by spectrophotometry, transmission electron microscopy, and photon-correlation spectroscopy. The effect of gold (C_Au = 10^–4–10^–3 mol/L) and AOT (C_AOT = 5 × 10^–4–2.5 × 10^–2 mol/L) concentrations on the formation of stable gold sols (λ_max = 520 nm) was studied. According to transmission electron microscopy data, the average size of gold nanoparticles in the dispersions was ~10 nm, which was in good agreement with the n-averaged hydrodynamic diameter determined by the photon correlation spectroscopy.