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. 2019 Aug 26;9(9):1201.
doi: 10.3390/nano9091201.

In Situ Decoration of Gold Nanoparticles on Graphene Oxide via Nanosecond Laser Ablation for Remarkable Chemical Sensing and Catalysis

Parvathy Nancy  1 , Anju K Nair  2 , Rodolphe Antoine  3 , Sabu Thomas  4   5 , Nandakumar Kalarikkal  6   7
Affiliations

In Situ Decoration of Gold Nanoparticles on Graphene Oxide via Nanosecond Laser Ablation for Remarkable Chemical Sensing and Catalysis

Parvathy Nancy et al. Nanomaterials (Basel). .

Abstract

Gold decorated graphene-based nano-hybrids find extensive research interest due to their enhanced chemical catalytic performance and biochemical sensing. The unique physicochemical properties and the very large surface area makes them propitious platform for the rapid buildouts of science and technology. Graphene serves as an outstanding matrix for anchoring numerous nanomaterials because of its atomically thin 2D morphological features. Herein, we have designed a metal-graphene nano-hybrid through pulsed laser ablation. Commercially available graphite powder was employed for the preparation of graphene oxide (GO) using modified Hummers' method. A solid, thin gold (Au) foil was ablated in an aqueous suspension of GO using second harmonic wavelength (532 nm) of the Nd:YAG laser for immediate generation of the Au-GO nano-hybrid. The synthesis strategy employed here does not entail any detrimental chemical reagents and hence avoids the inclusion of reagent byproducts to the reaction mixture, toxicity, and environmental or chemical contamination. Optical and morphological characterizations were performed to substantiate the successful anchoring of Au nanoparticles (Au NPs) on the GO sheets. Remarkably, these photon-generated nano-hybrids can act as an excellent surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) platform for the sensing/detection of the 4-mercaptobenzoic acid (4-MBA) with a very low detection limit of 1 × 10-12 M and preserves better reproducibility also. In addition, these hybrid materials were found to act as an effective catalyst for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP). Thus, this is a rapid, mild, efficient and green synthesis approach for the fabrication of active organometallic sensors and catalysts.

Keywords: Au-GO nano-hybrid; gold nanoparticles; graphene oxide; laser ablation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors proclaim no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(a) The experimental framework of fabrication of Au-GO nano-hybrid; (b) synthesis procedure for the Au-GO nano-hybrid.
Figure 2
Figure 2
UV-Vis absorption spectrum. (a) GO and Au-GO nano-hybrid; (b) Au-GO at different laser fluences.
Figure 3
Figure 3
X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Raman spectra of the Au-GO nano-hybrid. (a) Wide scan spectra; (b) Au4f spectrum; (c) C1s spectrum; (d) Raman spectra of the Au-GO and GO.
Figure 4
Figure 4
TEM and HRTEM images of the Au-GO nano-hybrid.
Figure 5
Figure 5
TEM-EDS of the Au-GO nano-hybrid.
Figure 6
Figure 6
(a) Field emission (FESEM) image of the Au-GO nano-hybrid (b–f) elemental mapping of Au-GO nano-hybrid, where C, O and Au are mapped in pink, yellow and blue colours respectively.
Figure 7
Figure 7
(a) The surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) spectra of the samples at 10 μM 4-MBA; (b) the SERS spectra of Au-GO at different concentrations of 4-MBA; (c) calibration data with respect to the average SERS intensities of the peaks of 4-MBA at 1076 cm−1 and 1586 cm−1 with the 4-MBA concentrations; (d) the Raman image of the Au-GO, the red region corresponds to the ‘hot spots’.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Time-resolved UV-Vis absorption spectra attributed to the catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) to 4-aminophenol (4-AP) with (a) Au NPs)@7.9 Jcm−2; (b) Au-GO@7.9 Jcm−2; (c) Au-GO@10.5 Jcm−2; (d) Au-GO@13.2 Jcm−2; (e) plot of ln(At/A0) against the reaction time of various proportions of the Au-GO samples.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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