Study of aggregation of gold nanoparticles in chitosan

Abstract

In this work it is reported the synthesis of gold nanoparticles supported in situ in chitosan by solvated metal atom dispersion technique in order to study the inclusion of Au nanoparticles in the biopolymer matrix. To study their aggregation along time and compare with the synthesis of Au/2-propanol colloid by chemical liquid deposition technique. Studies of Au nanoparticles aggregation along time, supported nanoparticles and colloidal nanoparticles morphology were also carried out. The characterization of Au nanoparticles was performed by transmission electron microscopy, field-emission and scanning electron microscopy, infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, light scattering and ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy. Metal colloid showed fractal agglomeration type and delay time after the synthesis, the agglomeration size increased to flocculate. Au nanoparticles supported in chitosan showed the same shape as colloids and fractal aggregation was mostly distributed on the matrix.