The Morphology of Nanosized Gold Colloids Stabilized by Epoxidized Natural Rubber (ENR-50)

Abstract: The gold colloid was prepared by reduction method using 2-propanol as the reducing agent in the presence of epoxidized natural rubber (ENR-50) matrix. Two sets of colloidal gold samples were obtained by heating the reaction mixtures at 68°C and 80°C respectively. The progress of reaction was followed by UV-Vis spectrometry. An investigation into the morphology of colloidal gold was made using a transmission electron microscope (TEM). The sample prepared at higher temperature exhibits spherical or near spherical shapes particles, while those prepared at lower temperature tend to be more crystalline and several with identifiable shapes. The average diameters of gold particles prepared were 10.3 ±5.1 nm and 47.0 ±6.9nm, respectively. Some of the morphological features observed in this work was discussed in term of the known proposed mechanisms previously published.