Title

Iodide-Induced Organothiol Desorption and Photochemical Reaction, Gold Nanoparticle (AuNP) Fusion, and SERS Signal Reduction in Organothiol-Containing AuNP Aggregates

Authors

Authors

G. S. Perera; A. LaCour; Y. D. Zhou; K. L. Henderson; S. L. Zou; F. Perez; J. P. Emerson;D. M. Zhang

Comments

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Abbreviated Journal Title

J. Phys. Chem. C

Keywords

ENHANCED RAMAN-SCATTERING; SODIUM-BOROHYDRIDE; CHEMICAL ENHANCEMENT; SINGLE-MOLECULE; WATER; DESULFURIZATION; CHEMISTRY; Chemistry, Physical; Nanoscience & Nanotechnology; Materials Science, ; Multidisciplinary

Abstract

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have been used extensively as surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopic (SERS) substrates for their large SERS enhancements and widely believed chemical stability. Presented is the finding that iodide can rapidly reduce the SERS intensity of the ligands, including organothiols adsorbed on plasmonic AuNPs through both iodide-induced ligand desorption and AuNP fusion. The organothiols trapped inside the fused AuNPs have negligible SERS activities. Multiple photochemical processes were involved when organothiol-containing AuNP aggregates were treated with KI under photoillumination. The photocatalytically produced I-3(-) reacts with both organothiol and AuNPs. Chloride and bromide also induce partial organothiol displacement and the fusion of the as-synthesized AuNPs, but neither of the two halides has detectable effects on the morphology and Raman signals of the organothiol-containing AuNP aggregates. The insight provided in this work should be important for the understanding of interfacial interactions of plasmonic AuNPs and their SERS applications.

Journal Title

Journal of Physical Chemistry C

Volume

119

Issue/Number

8

Publication Date

1-1-2015

Document Type

Article

Language

English

First Page

4261

Last Page

4267

WOS Identifier

WOS:000350329300041

ISSN

1932-7447

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