Sonochemical synthesis of porous gold nano- and micro-particles in a Rosette cell for drug delivery applications

Abstract

We report the synthesis of gold nano- and micro-particles that relies on α-D-glucose (C6H12O6) as the reducer and stabilizer in a Rosette cell under 20 kHz ultrasound irradiation. The chemical and physical effects of ultrasonic irradiation on the synthesis were investigated. The results showed that an optimum pH is required for the formation of insoluble Au(0) particles. Upon irradiation, low pH yielded gold nanoparticles while high pH resulted in microparticles. The Au surface capping by α-D-glucose hydroxyl and carbonyl groups was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis indicated that the Au particles crystallize within the face-centered-cubic (FCC) cell lattice. Moreover, intermittent sonication reduced larger amounts of the Au precursor compared to the continuous mode. Furthermore, tuning sonication time and mode influences the particle size and porosity as characterized by scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Our results shed a new light into the importance of the experimental and ultrasound parameters in obtaining gold particles of desired features through sonochemistry.