Gold Nanoparticles: Properties, Characterization and Fabrication – P. E. Chow – 1st Edition

“Due to their attractive electronic, optical and thermal properties, Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have arisen with great interest, as well as their catalytic properties, in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, materials science and some fields gold as a delivery vehicle in biomedical applications, solution and solid state methods for preparing Au nanoparticles, gold nanoparticles and their property in vitro, the utility of gold nanoparticles in emerging infectious disease situations, and many others.

Chapter 1 – Over the course of the 20th century, numerous scientists have explained or described the theory of size effects in thin layers of metal, and various approaches to the problem have been proposed. The behavior of 1D, 2D and 3D metallic particles of “meager” dimensions is mainly affected by the effects of surface size and quantum size. These phenomena have become the subject of a newly developed scientific discipline known as Size Dependent Chemistry. Surface and size effects can be attributed to a high surface-to-volume ratio of nanoparticles. Along with reducing the dimension of nanoparticles, the ratio of absorbing surface atoms increases, so the known physical properties of bulk materials change, for example, the density and melting point of nanoparticles of gold declining. Quantum effects are observed in the study of the electrical properties of Au nanolayers.

In this contribution, the current knowledge on the properties of both Au nanoparticles and Au nanolayers deposited on various substrates is summarized and some recent experimental results obtained on synthetic polymers are presented. The gold particles and layers were evaporated or sprayed onto pristine polymer or polymer activated by plasma discharge or by irradiation with laser light. The chemical bond of the gold nanoparticles on the surface of the activated polymer is broken. Injecting the polymer surface with a thiol group (-SH) leads to the formation of an intermediate layer that facilitates the adhesion of the gold nanoparticles. Gold nanoparticles deposited on the polymer surface were also found to increase the adhesion and killing of living cells, which is important for tissue engineering.”