Synthesis of Au Nanoclusters by Reduction of Bovine Serum Albumin: The Role of Sodium Hydroxide

Using bovine serum albumin (BSA) as both a reductant and ligand had been developed as one of the most used approaches for synthesis of fluorescent Au nanoclusters (NCs), in which first HAuCl4 and BSA were mixed together and then NaOH was added to the mixture after a certain time to obtain the Au NCs. In this work, the role of sodium hydroxide in the formation and emission properties of the Au NCs was investigated systematically. It was revealed, for the first time, that activity of the gold precursor and, thus, emission properties of the resulting Au NCs are dependent upon the addition time of sodium hydroxide. Meanwhile, the reducing ability of BSA is dependent upon the concentration of sodium hydroxide added to the reaction solution. By optimization of the addition time and concentration of sodium hydroxide used, Au NCs with improved emission properties were successfully synthesized under relatively low BSA concentrations, which showed improved performance toward the sensing of Cu2+ ions.