SEC Characterization of Au Nanoparticles Prepared through Seed-Assisted Synthesis

Abstract

In this paper we report the use of size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) for rapid determination of the sizes and size distributions of Au nanoparticles (NPs) prepared by seed-assisted synthesis. Analytical separation of Au NPs was performed in a polymer-based column of pore size 400 nm. We characterized the sizes and size distributions of the Au NPs by using 10 mM sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as mobile phase and obtained a linear relationship (R ² = 0.986) between retention time and size of Au NPs within the range 9.8–79.1 nm; the relative standard deviations of these retention times were less than 0.3%. These separation conditions were used to characterize the sizes and size distributions of Au NPs prepared by seed-assisted synthesis. In addition to observing the elution times of the Au NPs we also simultaneously characterized their size-dependent optical properties by spectral measurement of the eluting peaks by use of an on-line diode-array detector (DAD), i.e., monitoring of the stability of the Au NP products. By using this approach we found the presence of SDS was beneficial in stabilizing the synthesized Au NPs. We also found that the volume of Au metal ions used affected the sizes of the final products. SEC seems an efficient tool for characterizing the sizes of NPs fabricated by seed-assisted synthesis.