Size-dependent production of radicals in catalyzed reduction of Eosin Y using gold nanorods

Gold nanostructures have been widely used as catalysts for chemical processes, energy conversion, and pollution control. The size of gold nanocatalysts is thus paramount for their catalytic activity. In this paper, gold nanorods with different sizes were prepared by means of the improved seeding growth approach by adding aromatic additive. The sizes and aspect ratios of the obtained gold nanorods were calculated according to the TEM characterization. Then, we studied the catalytic activities of gold nanorods using a model reaction based on the reduction of Eosin Y by NaBH₄. By monitoring the absorption intensities of the radicals induced by gold nanorods in real time, we observed the clear size-dependent activity in the conversion of EY²⁻ to EY³⁻. The conversion efficiency indicated that the gold nanorods with the smallest size were catalytically the most active probably due to their high number of coordinatively unsaturated surface atoms. In addition, a compensation effect dominated by the surface area of nanorods was observed in this catalytic reduction, which could be primarily attributed to the configuration of Eosin Y absorbed onto the surfaces of gold nanorods