Polysorbate 80 as a tool: Synthesis of gold nanoparticles

The preparation of metal nanoparticles generally requires the use of mostly toxic reducing agents according to state-of-the-art procedures. Here, we report that polysorbate 80, a polymeric nonionic surfactant, when reacted with a gold salt in water at room temperature, yields well-dispersed gold nanoparticles. Furthermore, we could control the particle size by simply altering concentration or temperature. The synthetic procedure presented here is easy, inexpensive, straightforward, and user-friendly.