Photochemical formation of silver‐gold (Ag-Au) composite colloids in solutions containing sodium alginate

Abstract

Photochemical formation of colloidal silver, colloidal gold and silver‐gold (Ag‐Au) composite colloids under mild conditions has been studied. Irradiation of either aqueous AgCIO₄ or HAuCI₄ solution in the presence of sodium alginate (SA) with 253.7 nm light yielded colloidal silver or gold, whose particle diamter was 10‐30 nm or 40‐60 nm, respectively. The Ag‐Au composite colloids consisting of mixtures of silver and gold domains (particle diameter 30‐150 nm) have been prepared and their extinction spectra have been examined on the basis of a conventional Mie theory in combination with an effective medium theory to estimate the optical constants of these colloids. It has been shown that the extinction spectra of the Ag‐Au composite colloids are completely different from those of Ag‐Au alloy colloids, in that the former have two extinction maxima close to the colloidal extinction bands of pure silver and gold, in contrast to a single extinction maximum of the latter. The importance of natural, high‐molecular carboxylic acids such as alginic acid in the photochemical formation of metal colloids and thin films has been stressed.