Melamine assisted one-pot synthesis of Au nanoflowers and their catalytic activity towards p-nitrophenol

This paper reports a simple, one-pot, template-free synthesis of uniform flower-like Au nanostructures with high yield at room temperature. The morphologies of Au are very sensitive to melamine and its concentrations. Since melamine, as a complexing agent, can selectively adsorb onto the specific crystal planes of Au and thereby expose the special facets for the anisotropic growth. Time-dependent measurements by UV-vis and TEM spectroscopy are used to monitor the reaction progress and evolution of the flower-like nanostructures. It was found that the Au nanoflowers, with tips preferentially grown along the (111) planes, exhibit excellent catalytic activity towards the reduction of p-nitrophenol.