Gold nanoparticles assembled with dithiocarbamate-anchored molecular wires

Reeler, Nini E.A.; Lerstrup, Knud A.; Somerville, Walter; Speder, Jozsef; Petersen, Søren V.; Laursen, Bo W.; Arenz, Matthias; Qiu, Xiaohui; Vosch, Tom; Nørgaard, Kasper

Abstract

A protocol for the bottom-up self-assembly of nanogaps is developed through molecular linking of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). Two €-conjugated oligo(phenylene ethynylene) molecules (OPE) with dithiocarbamate anchoring groups are used as ligands for the AuNPs. OPE-4S with a dithiocarbamate in each end of the molecule and a reference molecule OPE-2S with only a single dithiocarbamate end group. The linking mechanism of OPE-4S is investigated by using a combination of TEM, UV-Vis absorption and surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) as well as studying the effect of varying the OPE-4S to AuNP concentration ratio. UV-Vis absorption confirms the formation of AuNP aggregates by the appearance of an extended plasmon band (EPB) for which the red shift and intensity depend on the OPE-4S:AuNP ratio. SERS confirms the presence of OPE-4S and shows a gradual increase of the signal intensity with increasing OPE-4S:AuNP ratios up to a ratio of about 4000, after which the SERS intensity does not increase significantly. For OPE-2S, no linking is observed below full coverage of the AuNPs indicating that the observed aggregate formation at high OPE-2S:AuNP ratios, above full AuNP coverage, is most likely of a physical nature (van der Waals forces or €-€ interactions).

Citation

Reeler, N. E., Lerstrup, K. A., Somerville, W., Speder, J., Petersen, S. V., Laursen, B. W., …Nørgaard, K. (2015). Gold nanoparticles assembled with dithiocarbamate-anchored molecular wires. Scientific reports, 5(1), Article 15273. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep15273

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 18, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Oct 16, 2015
• Publication Date: Oct 16, 2015
• Deposit Date: Jun 29, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 13, 2018
• Journal: Scientific Reports
• Print ISSN: 2045-2322
• Electronic ISSN: 2045-2322
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 5
• Issue: 1
• Article Number: 15273
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/srep15273
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/901132
• Publisher URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/srep15273