Synthesis of gold nanorods with different aspect ratio for organic photovoltaics

In this article, we describe the modified seed-mediated growth synthesis of Au nanorods in aqueous medium according to C. Murphy designed for applications in photovoltaic devices with different aspect ratio (redshift of longitudinal LSPR). It is a method which is divided into two different steps. The first one is preparation of spherical gold particles by metal salts reduction in water which serve as a seeds to the formation of nanorods. In the second step, the rods grow from these seeds applying a structure-directing agent, namely cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB). The absorption spectra showing different plasmon resonance wavelengths for nanorods with various aspect ratios were detected by the UV/VIS/NIR spectrophotometry. Stability of nanorod solutions was examined by the zeta potential measurement on Zetasizer Nano ZS 90 (Malvern Instrument). (authors)