Synthesis of gold nanoplates in lamellar liquid crystal

Single-crystalline gold nanoplates have been synthesized in a lamellar lyotropic liquid crystal (LLC) composed of a nonionic surfactant, C12E4 (tetraethylene glycol monododecyl ether) and the chloroauric acid (HAuCl4) solution. The sizes of gold nanoplates can be varied from several hundreds of nanometers to a few microns in width by changing reaction conditions. The factors which influence the product morphology, like LLC composition, capping agent and reaction temperature are studied by small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The mechanism analysis indicates that the LLC plays an important role for the consequent growth of single-crystal anisotropic plates by providing an ordered reaction medium and a limited growth space.