New pathway to prepare gold nanoparticles and their applications in catalysis and surface-enhanced Raman scattering

As shown in the literature, additional energies are necessary for the reduction of positively charged noble metal ions to prepare metal nanoparticles (NPs). In this work, we report a new green pathway to prepare Au NPs in neutral 0.1 M NaCl aqueous solutions from bulk Au substrates without addition of any stabilizer and reductant just via aid of natural chitosan (Ch) at room temperature. Au- and Ch-containing complexes in aqueous solution were electrochemically prepared. The role of Ch is just an intermediate to perform electron transfer with Au NPs. The stability of these prepared Au NPs is well maintained by Au NPs themselves with slightly positively charged Au remained on the surface of Au NPs. The particle size of prepared spherical Au (1 1 1) NPs is ca. 15 nm in diameter. Moreover, increasing the pH of preparation solutions can be contributive to preparing concentrated Au NPs in solutions. The prepared Au NPs are surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)-active for probe molecules of Rhodamine 6G. They also demonstrate significantly catalytic activity for decomposition of acetaldehyde in rice wine.

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► A new green pathway to prepare Au nanoparticles via aid of natural chitosan.
► Prepared Au nanoparticles are surface-enhanced Raman scattering-active.
► Slightly positively charged Au is responsible for good performance on stability.