Formation and Optical Absorption of Photo-reduced Gold Nanoparticles Inside Pores of Mesoporous Silica

Mesoporous silica with gold nanoparticles inside its pores was synthesized by soaking and photo-reduction method. This new material was characterized by transmission electron microscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller techniques. The results showed that gold nanoparticles were isolated from each other and uniformly dispersed inside the pores of silica, most of which were less than 4 nm in diameter. It was found that in optical absorption spectrum, surface plasma resonance peak of nanosized gold particles assumed a significant redshift (about 55nm) with respect to that predicted by Mie theory. This can be explained in terms of interface interaction (boundary coupling) between gold particles and pore walls of porous silica.