Size-control of Gold Nanoparticles Synthesized by Plasma in Contact with Liquids via Using Ligands

Plasma in contact with liquids (PCL) owns the ability to synthesize gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) with surfaces free of any ligands. This feature has been attractive for high-standard applications, for which AuNPs undergo many steps of functionalization. However, the size-control of AuNPs synthesized by PCL has still been challenging. This study presents a simple approach to precisely controlling the size of AuNPs synthesized via PCL. By adding the suitable ligands into the precursor, the growth in large size of AuNPs can be controlled, and the final size of AuNPs was fixed to a reciprocal function of the concentration of added ligand.