Abstract
The work describes an easy seedless competitive chemical reduction method for the synthesis of Ag@Au/Ag bimetallic nanoparticles by mixing AgNO3, HAuCl4 and cysteine. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) images show that the large number of irregular, cross-linking, and aggregated Ag@Au/Ag are formed in a reaction mixture (HAuCl4 + AgNO3 + cysteine), whereas flower-like nanocomposites are obtained in presence of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), which acted as a shape-directing agent. Optical images reveal that the initially reaction proceeds through formation of purple color, which changes into dark brown color with the reaction time, indicating the formation of Ag@Au/Ag nanocomposites. The Ag+ has strong tendency to form complex with cysteine. Firstly, the reduction of Ag+ ions to Ag-0 occurred by the HS group of the cysteine-Ag complex. Secondly, AuCl4- ions adsorbed on the positive surface of Ag-0, which undergoes reduction by potential deposition, and leads to the formation of Ag@Au/Ag bimetallic nanoparticles. Inorganic electrolytes (NaCl, NaBr, NaNO3 and Na2SO4) have significant impact on the stability and aggregation of Ag@Au/Ag nanocomposites. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.