Synthesis of high yield gold nanosheets with electrocatalytic activity toward NADH and investigation of their self-assembly at toluene/water interface

Two-dimensional (2D) gold nanosheets (AuNSs) are very attractive nanostructures owing to their unique surface features. They have interesting structure due to their micrometer size and nanometer thickness and show surface plasmon resonance (SPR) in the near infrared (NIR) region .[1, 2] These interesting characteristics make these nanostructures as efficient tools for applications in many fields including new nanodevices, electrochemistry, plasmonics, gas sensors, electronics, biosensors and etc.[3] Herein, a simple, in-situ and cost effective method is introduced for high-yield synthesis of thin and large gold nanosheets at room-temperature. In this procedure, carbon nanodendrite structures and Gum Arabic (GA) were used as low-cost, green reducing and shape controlling agents, respectively. Several shapes including triangular, truncated triangular, hexagonal gold nanosheets were prepared. Morphology and structure of the as-synthesized products were characterized using different techniques such as UV-Vis spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transition electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Moreover, the self-assembly of gold nanosheets was studied at the toluene/water interface. The synthesized thin gold nanosheets with their sharp edges and corners, exhibited electrocatalytic effects toward NADH oxidation.