Synthesis and Characterizations of Plasmonic Nanoparticles: Large Plain Au and Au/TiO2 Core-Shell Nanoparticles

Two distinct approaches to synthesizing spherical, monodisperse, and large (>40 nm) gold nanoparticles are reported. The first approach involves synthesizing monodisperse gold octahedrons followed by selective etching of the vertices. The second approach exploits the nanoreactor strategy for gold nanoparticles and the related core-shell nanoparticles.