Synthesis of Au nanorods in a low pH solution via seed-media method

The gold (Au) nanorods with various aspect ratios are obtained by a seed-media method in low pH growth solution. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and UV-visible spectrophotometry are utilized to characterize the Au nanorods, and the longitudinal absorption peak positions of Au nanorods show different shifting trends of the growth evolutions in various low pH (1∼3) solutions. Other influential factors on the shape of Au nanorod are also systematically studied under low pH reaction condition. The positions of longitudinal peak shift between 600 nm and 900 nm, with the aspect ratios of Au nanorods varying from 2 to 5 both in the simulation and experimental results. The simulation results are in agreement with experimental ones.