Gold and silver nanoparticles have been studied for their interesting opto-electronic properties and range of applications, such as in biomedical devices, photovoltaics, and catalysis. Because of the difficulty eliminating metal contaminants from glassware, metal nanoparticle researchers often use dedicated glassware for their syntheses. Additionally, glassware is often cleaned with aqua regia, a corrosive and volatile acid, before synthesis. This is especially encouraged for labs with shared equipment, as in undergraduate teaching or research labs, to minimize cross-contamination between experiments. To investigate the sensitivity of chemical reduction synthesis for gold and silver nanoparticles to contaminants, glassware was systematically seeded with gold or silver prior to cleaning with different methods. The resulting colloidal suspensions were characterized using optical transmission spectroscopy. Changes in the localized surface plasmon resonance of the metal nanoparticles were used to determine the effects of any contaminants left in glassware during synthesis. The results were used to develop glassware cleaning recommendations for metal nanoparticle researchers.

Impact of glassware contamination in gold and silver nanoparticle synthesis

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