Discriminative response of aliphatic and aromatic dithiol in the self-assembly of gold nanoparticles

Abstract

Self-assembly of gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) in the presence of an aliphatic dithiol and an aromatic dithiol of similar molecular length in an EtOH–H2O mixture was found to be remarkably different. Aromatic dithiols lead to the predominant formation of dimers of Au NPs. Our results strongly suggest the potential use of aromatic dithiol for the easy preparation of controllable and well-defined nanostructures of Au NPs.