Hey everyone,
I am going to be synthesizing gold nanowires and have acquired the powder form of HAuCl4. No one in my lab has worked with it before. I remember hearing that making the HAuCl4 solution was challenging and that I needed to handle it a certain way. Does anyone have any advice on how to make this solution safely?
Thanks!
Dear Michael Kozma many thanks for your question. In my experience, preparing a solution of HAuCl4 is not at all challenging. The compound easily dissolves in deionized water. Before determining the concentration, you should check the water content specified on the bottle. Normally the compound come as a tetrahydrate. The only precaution you should take is to wear gloves, as the HAuCl4 solution is irritant to the skin.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chloroauric_acid
Dear all, additional information may be found at the following links and the attached files. My Regards
https://www.researchgate.net/post/What_is_the_correct_volume_of_HAuCl4_solution_and_trisodium_citrate_solution_for_the_preparation_of_gold_nanoparticles_in_these_papers#:~:text=Just%20before%20your%20experiment%20prepare,into%2020%20ml%20of%20water.
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Can_anybody_propose_a_practical_way_of_HAuCl4_synthesis
The only trick is that gold tetrachloroaureate is an hygroscopic salt to be stored under darkness. You might need to weight fast the salt to dissolve or also recalculate the Vol. of water, as the experimental amount might be as granules and imprecise to have an exact amount. It is recommended to keep the salt in a desiccator and the solutions in the fridge and protected from light.
Dear Michael Kozma you're very welcome! Your original question is now two months old. It would be interesting to know if you succeeded in making the HAuCl4 solution and synthesize your gold nanowires.
Hi Frank T. Edelmann so I was ultimately successful in making the solution but I did run into some issues.
I moved my scale into the fume hood recalibrated it and weighed out the HAuCl4. It seems that the material was quite hydroscopic and pulled moisture out of the air so I had to weight it out quickly. I think if I had done it in a glove box under dry nitrogen environment that would not be an issue. In addition to this, the HAuCl4 that was in contact with my metal spatula ended up severely corroding the metal. Using a plastic or wooden spatula would have solved this I believe.
With the solution I was also successful in synthesizing a variety of gold nanoparticles, nanorods, and nanowires!
Dear Michael Kozma great to hear that you have been successful in synthesizing a variety of gold nanoparticles, nanorods, and nanowires. Congratulations!
As has been mentioned by you and Vadim S. Gorshkov
tetrachloroauric acid is quite corrosive. In this this context I found a very interesting article in which the authors used stainless steel wire to make gold nanoparticles from HAuCl4. The paper is available as public full text on RG:Article Gold Nanoparticles Synthesis Using Stainless Steel as Solid ...
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