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Gold (Au) and silver (Ag) nanostructures have widespread utilization from biomedicine to materials science. Therefore, their synthesis with control of their morphology and surface chemistry have been among the hot topics over the last decades. Here, we introduce a new approach relying on sugar derivatives that work as reducing, stabilizing, and capping agents in the synthesis of Au and Ag nanostructures. These sugar derivatives are utilized alone and as mixture, resulting in spherical, spheroid, trigonal, polygonic, and star-like morphologies. The synthesis approach was further tested in the presence of acetate and dimethylamine as size- and shape-directing agents. With the use of transmission electron microscopy (TEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED), x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) absorption spectroscopy techniques, the particle size, shape, assembly, aggregation, and film formation characteristics were evaluated. NPs’ attributes were shown to be tunable by manipulating the sugar ligand selection and sugar ligand/metal-ion ratio. For instance, with an imine side group and changing the sugar moiety from cellobiose to lactose, the morphology of the Ag nanoparticles (NPs) transformed from well dispersed cubic to rough and aggregated. The introduction of acetate and dimethylamine further extended the growth pattern and morphological properties of these NPs. As examples, L5 AS, G5AS, and S5AS ligands formed spherical or sheet-like structures when used alone, which upon the use of these additives transformed into larger multicore and rough NPs, revealing their significant effect on the NP morphology. Selected samples were tested for their stability against protein corona formation and ionic strength, where a high chemical stability and resistance to protein coating were observed. The findings show a promising, benign approach for the synthesis of shape- and size-directed Au and Ag nanostructures, along with a selection of the chemistry of carbohydrate-derivatives that can open new windows for their applications.

The optical properties of the chromium doped spinel type semiconductor α-ZnAl2S4 have been examined over the temperature range 2–540 K. The intrinsic photoluminescence (PL) showed an intense ultraviolet peak at 381 nm at 296 K. From extrinsic absorption and emission spectra the transitions between the ground state A2g4 and the excited levels Eg2, T1g2, T2g2, T2g4, and T1g4 of Cr3+ ions were observed. A fit of the measured temperature dependence of the PL decay, using a four level model, yielded the lifetimes of the Eg2, T1g2, and T2g4 levels and the energy gaps between the Eg2–T1g2 and Eg2–T2g4 states which were found to be very close to the values obtained from steady-state measurements. A configurational coordinate diagram for Cr3+ ions in a α-ZnAl2S4:Cr spinel host has been constructed. Optical gain measurements at 198, 298, and 380 K displayed two separate spectral regions associated to the Cr3+ ions and possibly Cr4+ impurity centers. Gain values of up to 25 cm−1 at 198 K were obtained.

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We report the study of fluorescence quenching from nanoassemblies formed by Rhodamine 6G and gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) of 2.6 nm radius. The presence of Au NPs induces long-term degradation of the photostability (photobleaching) of Rhodamine 6G used as a gain medium in a Fabry-Perot laser cavity. We found that the degradation gets profound when the Au NPs concentration is significantly increased. Calculation of the radiative rate and direct time-resolved measurement of the fluorescence decay indicates that both the decrease of radiative decay rate and increase of non-radiative decay rate are responsible for the fluorescence quenching and photostability degradation. An energy transfer from the dye molecules to gold nanoparticles is dominating within small distance between them and suppresses the quantum efficiency of Rhodamine 6G drastically. In a long time scale, the photobleaching rate was slowing down, and the laser output intensity reached a stabilized level which depends on the gold nanoparticles concentration.

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