Synthesis of gold nanoparticles via electroless deposition in SBA-15

The synthesis of monodisperse samples of gold nanoparticles ranging from 5 to 9 nm in SBA-15 using silver-catalyzed electroless deposition was presented. The asynthesized SBA-15 material was treated with hexamethydisilazane (HMDS)/toluene solution under N₂ for 12h. It was observed that the synthesis results in a Au/SBA-15 nanocomposite material with a very large loading level of monodisperse gold nanoparticles aligned in the channels. It was also observed that the extraction of the SBA-15 entrapped gold from the nanocomposite by etching the SBA-15 framework with HF in the presence of alkanethiols results in milligram quantities of gold nanoparticles with low polydisperity.