Gold nanorods have gained interest in the recent years due to their numerous potential plasmonic applications.  In order to fully exploit their potential, it is however necessary to functionalize the surface of gold nanords by replacing the native CTAB (cetyl trimethylammonium bromide) bilayer.  These ligand exchange reactions often require the addition of a cosolvent, such as acetone, in order to facilitate the exchange. However, not much is known about the solution properties following cosolvent addition.            Herein, the effects exerted by the addition of acetone on the CTAB bilayer  and on the nanorods were investigated.  The properties of the CTAB micelle were analyzed by surface tensiometry and those of the nanorods by optically investigating their aggregation behavior at variable acetone and CTAB concentration. It was found that at high acetone concentrations the nanorods aggregated but did so following an interesting and unexpected behavior.

Fundamentals of ligand exchange on gold nanorods

245th National Meeting (2013)

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