Self-assembled tetramethylbenzidine conductive nanofibers synchronized with gold nanoparticle formation

Abstract In this study, for the first time, electrically-conductive tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) nanofibers were synthesized and covered with gold nanoparticles via the in situ redox reaction of TMB and HAuCl 4 in ethanol media. The gold nanoparticles were uniformly bound to the fiber surface through the coordination of the amine atoms in TMB molecules with gold nanoparticles. The conductivity of the composite fibrous membrane was found to be 2.1 × 10 −3 S cm −1 . The developed method described herein is simple and effective for the production of novel electrically-conductive TMB/Au nanofibers. We believed that the composite fibrous materials could be used in various fields such as optoelectronic or sensor applications.