The effect of pH-adjusted gold colloids on the formation of gold clusters over APTMS-coated silica cores

An electrostatic interaction is responsible for the attachment of gold seeds of 1-3 nm onto APTMS (3-aminopropyl trimethoxysilane)-coated silica cores in the formation of gold clusters. A surface plasmon resonance and morphology of gold clusters were significantly affected by the pH of gold colloids prepared by THPC reducing agent. Gold colloids of alkaline pH induced the heterogeneous deposition of gold seeds onto the silica nanoparticles, probably due to the continuous reduction of residual gold ions during the attachment process. Gold colloids of acidic pH induced the monodisperse deposition of gold seeds, consequently leading to the formation of smooth gold layer on the silica nanoparticles surface. The gold nanoshells (core radius = 80 nm) prepared by gold colloids of pH 3.1 exhibited the more red-shift and relatively stronger intensity of plasmon absorption bands, compared with gold nanoshells prepared by alkaline gold colloids of pH 9.7