Preparation and characterization of gold nanoparticles by magnetron sputtering technique

Gold nanoparticles have been prepared by magnetron sputtering technique, and their morphologies, granularities, structures, optical absorption properties and chemical components have been characterized by using TEM, XRD, UV-Vis and XPS. The results indicate that the gold nanoparticles prepared are approximately spherical, their average size is estimated to be about 10nm, and they are pure and unpolluted. The structure of the gold nanoparticles is face center cubic (FCC). The surface plasma resonant absorption appears at 519 nm.The binding energy of 4f7/2 and 4f5/2 electrons of elemental gold atoms are 83.3 eV and 86.9 eV, respectively. And there is no asymmetry in the peak, which indicates that no Au atoms are oxidated.