Thermodynamic Control of Gold Nanocrystal Size: Experiment and Theory

We present an experimental demonstration and a corresponding statistical thermodynamic formulation of -mediated size control of Au nanocrystals. In particular, we show how particle size-over a range of diameters from 15 to 200 A-can be sensitively controlled by simply varying the gold-to-thiol ratio. The agreement between theory and experiment is confirmed by X-ray line-broadening measurements of the nanocrystal products from a room-temperature synthesis in which the gold-thiol composition is systematically varied.