Preparation and characterization of gold nanodumbbells

Well-dispersed gold nanodumbbells (GNDs) in an aqueous phase have been successfully fabricated by an electrochemical method using a micelle template formed by two surfactants with the addition of acetone solvent during electrolysis, the primary surfactant being cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTABr) and the cosurfactant being tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide (TTABr). The role of acetone solvent is found to change the gold nanoparticles'shape from a rod to a dumbbell. The shape of the GNDs is fatter at the two ends and thinner in the middle section. The GNDs have been determined to be pure gold with a single-crystalline face-centred cubic (FCC) structure from selected area electron diffraction (SAED) patterns. Morphology features of GNDs in cross-section have also been investigated by dark field (DF) transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images. These GNDs exhibit octagonal structure in cross-section and an aspect ratio of around 3.