Structural verification and optical characterization of SiO2–Au–Cu2O nanoparticles

In this paper, SiO2–Au–Cu2O core/shell/shell nanoparticles were synthesized by reducing gold chloride on 3-amino-propyl-triethoxysilane molecules attached silica nanoparticle cores for several stages. Cu2O nanoparticles were synthesized readily with the size of 4–5 nm using a simple route of sol–gel method Then, they were clung to the surface of Au seeds. The morphology of the resultant particles was studied using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Transmission electron microscopy images demonstrate growth of monodispersed gold seeds and Cu2O nanoparticles in narrow size up to 10 nm and 5 nm, respectively. The presence of gold and Cu2O coating was confirmed by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and UV–Vis spectroscopy. Absorption spectroscopy shows considerably 40 nm blue shift in absorption edge for SiO2–Au–Cu2O nanostructure rather than SiO2–Au core/shell nanoparticles.