Plasma-assisted and solvent-free ultra-fast synthesis of gold and gold oxide ultra-small nanoparticles and its use as multi-sensing platforms

In this work, a plasma-assisted and solvent-free synthesis of gold (Au) and gold oxide (Au2O3) nanoparticles (NPs) is explored. Accordingly, only the precursor (i.e., HAuCl4 powder) is exposed to the N2:O2 plasma gas mixtures, selected to promote its reduction to Au (HAuCl4-to-Au0) and/or favor its...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Sans Milà, Jordi|||0000-0002-2756-0492, Colombi, Samuele|||0000-0001-7281-9443, Arnau Roca, Marc|||0000-0001-6038-3902, Fontana Escartín, Adrián|||0000-0003-3709-9991, Resina, Maria Leonor Matos|||0000-0003-4216-8349, García Torres, José Manuel|||0000-0002-3996-0274, Alemán Llansó, Carlos|||0000-0003-4462-6075
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repositorio:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/450998
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/450998
https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/smll.202506752
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Au USNPs
Au2O3 NPs
Multiplexing detection
Plasma technologies
Sensing biological environments
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria química
Descripción
Sumario:In this work, a plasma-assisted and solvent-free synthesis of gold (Au) and gold oxide (Au2O3) nanoparticles (NPs) is explored. Accordingly, only the precursor (i.e., HAuCl4 powder) is exposed to the N2:O2 plasma gas mixtures, selected to promote its reduction to Au (HAuCl4-to-Au0) and/or favor its further oxidation to Au2O3. As a result, the production of highly crystalline spherical Au ultra-small NPs (USNPs) of 2.7 ± 0.7 nm and Au2O3 edged pyramidal-like NPs of 18 ± 5 nm is obtained in very short times (i.e., 10 s-1 min), showing excellent stability without the need to add any ligands. To investigate the potential features of the synthesized particles, they are loaded into alginate hydrogels and tested as multi-detection sensor platforms of H2O2 and NADH in front of several interferents. Although both samples present excellent electrochemical sensing activity (as compared to Au NPs synthesized through the Turkevich method), Au2O3 NPs stand out for its high analytical sensibility toward H2O2 (153.1 and 16.8 µA mm-1¿cm-2 for single and multiplexing detection, simultaneously); and capacity to measure NADH in real human urine and low detection limits produced by Escherichia coli (7.5 × 103 CFU mL-1). Herein, a green, easy, and fast method is proposed to produce stable Au USNPs and Au2O3 NPs, showing great potential for the catalytic and biomedical fields.