Controlled formation of gold nanostructures on biopolymer films upon electromagnetic radiation

The localized formation of gold nanostructures with controlled size and shape on chitosan films doped with gold precursor upon electromagnetic irradiation of various types is demonstrated here. Such controlled formation is achieved by tuning the wavelength, the energy and the interaction time of the radiation with the composite films. In particular, the use of a single UV nanosecond laser pulse results in the formation of gold sub-micron platelets with specific crystal structure, while increasing the number of pulses, further precursor reduction and photofragmentation induce the formation of gold nanoparticles. Using x-ray radiation as an alternative energy source, the reduction of the gold precursor and the subsequent formation of particles follow a different pathway. Specifically, x-ray-induced photo-reduction triggers the selective formation of gold sub-micron platelets with a very well defined {111} crystal phase. In this case, the density of crystal platelets increases by increasing the irradiation time of the films, while no photofragmentation process is observed. The gold structures pre-formed by x-ray radiation can be fragmented by subsequent pulsed UV laser irradiation forming nanoparticles with much narrower size distribution compared to that obtained via exclusive UV irradiation. Thanks to the perfect coupling between the natural polymeric matrix and gold nanostructures, the bionanocomposite systems developed could find various applications in biomaterial science and in biosensors field. (paper)