Gold/hydroxypropyl cellulose hybrid nanocomposite constructed with more complete coverage of gold nano-shell

The gold nanocomposite supported on hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) using NaBH₄ as a medium has been prepared successfully here. A brownish-red solution in its UV-vis absorption spectrum showed surface plasmon resonance absorption bands between 520 and 560-nm in solutions. The Au/HPC nanocomposite was characterised by X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurement, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). XRD showed the fcc crystal structure of the bulk Au with particles of less than 22-nm in size similar to that is observed by TEM and HPC is crucial for the formation of such gold nanocomposite. SEM indicated uniform distribution of particles in the film. TGA confirmed enhanced thermal stability of the polymer. This easy synthetic approach to gold nano- and microstructures is a seedless, one-step, fast, template-free route that shows good reproducibility and may be further developed to produce other types of metal nanostructures that satisfy specific applications.