Sunlight-induced synthesis of various gold nanoparticles and their heterogeneous catalytic properties on a paper-based substrate.

This work describes the light-induced preparation of various gold nanoparticles and demonstrates their possible use as efficient photothermal heating materials and practical heterogeneous catalysts under the irradiation of a solar-based light after being loaded onto a paper-based substrate. The synthesis of gold nanoparticles was accomplished under the irradiation of daily sunlight and a solar-simulated light with an intensity that was closely adjusted to the one-sun condition. Tunable sizes of gold nanoparticles were systematically controlled by the ratio of trisodium citrate and gold chloride ions, particularly with the solar-simulated light source.