Zwitterionic micelles as a soft template for the extremely rapid synthesis of small hollow gold nanocontainers

Hollow gold nanoparticles (HGNs) are unique materials having properties which can be beneficial in controlled and traceable drug delivery and molecular imaging. In the recent past various methods have been developed for the synthesis of these HGNs, the most widely used method employed the galvanic replacement reaction of silver for gold. In this manuscript we have developed a simple approach for the formation of hollow gold nanoparticles (HGNs) using an aqueous solution of a zwitterionic surfactant, N-hexadecyl-N,N-dimethylammonio- 1-propanesulfonate SB-16, as a soft template and different ILs, N,N-dimethylethanolammonium formate/hexanoate (DAF/DAH), as reducing agents. The size distribution and morphology of these HGNs were determined by dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurement, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). UV-vis spectroscopy was used to assess their optical properties. This soft template approach requires less than 1 min at 338 K for the production of HGNs of size less than 20 nm.