Volume 22, Issue 2 p. 577-583
Article

Synthesis of Gold Nanotriangles and Silver Nanoparticles Using Aloevera Plant Extract

S. Prathap Chandran

S. Prathap Chandran

Nanoscience Group, Materials Chemistry Division, Biochemical Sciences Division, National Chemical Laboratory, Pune 411008, India

Search for more papers by this author
Minakshi Chaudhary

Minakshi Chaudhary

Nanoscience Group, Materials Chemistry Division, Biochemical Sciences Division, National Chemical Laboratory, Pune 411008, India

Search for more papers by this author
Renu Pasricha

Renu Pasricha

Nanoscience Group, Materials Chemistry Division, Biochemical Sciences Division, National Chemical Laboratory, Pune 411008, India

Search for more papers by this author
Absar Ahmad

Absar Ahmad

Nanoscience Group, Materials Chemistry Division, Biochemical Sciences Division, National Chemical Laboratory, Pune 411008, India

Search for more papers by this author
Murali Sastry

Corresponding Author

Murali Sastry

Nanoscience Group, Materials Chemistry Division, Biochemical Sciences Division, National Chemical Laboratory, Pune 411008, India

Nanoscience Group, Materials Chemistry Division, Biochemical Sciences Division, National Chemical Laboratory, Pune 411008, India===Search for more papers by this author
First published: 05 September 2008
Citations: 1,588

Abstract

Biogenic gold nanotriangles and spherical silver nanoparticles were synthesized by a simple procedure using Aloe veraleaf extract as the reducing agent. This procedure offers control over the size of the gold nanotriangle and thereby a handle to tune their optical properties, particularly the position of the longitudinal surface plasmon resonance. The kinetics of gold nanotriangle formation was followed by UV-vis-NIR absorption spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The effect of reducing agent concentration in the reaction mixture on the yield and size of the gold nanotriangles was studied using transmission electron microscopy. Monitoring the formation of gold nanotriangles as a function of time using TEM reveals that multiply twinned particles (MTPs) play an important role in the formation of gold nanotriangles. It is observed that the slow rate of the reaction along with the shape directing effect of the constituents of the extract are responsible for the formation of single crystalline gold nanotriangles. Reduction of silver ions by Aloe veraextract however, led to the formation of spherical silver nanoparticles of 15.2 nm ± 4.2 nm size.