Size control of gold nanoparticles by electrochemical synthesis

The purpose of this work is to find out the relationship between the effects of electrochemical parameters on the size of gold nanoparticles, to investigate the possibility of controlling the size of electrochemically synthesized gold nanoparticles. To achieve this aim, electrochemical synthesis was conducted with different varying parameters, and UV-Vis Spectrometry was used to obtain the absorption readings of the samples. These UV-Vis readings were then used to correlated with the nanoparticle size. Samples were first prepared in 1 ml cuvettes by mixing the reducing agent and the solvent. The samples were then put through UV-Vis spectroscopy which measured the UV and visible light absorption. This process was then repeated multiple times, each time changing a different parameter. Parameters varied in this experiment included concentration, volume ratio, additives, dilution, time and mixing. The UV-Vis readings were functions of the size of the nanoparticles produced and therefore, allowed the correlation between experimental parameters and nanoparticle size to be formed. Most parameters were found to correlate well with the size of nanoparticles synthesized, recording different peaks on the UV-Vis spectroscope.Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical Engineering