Nano Lett., 7 (9), 2881 -2885, 2007. 10.1021/nl071615y S1530-6984(07)01615-3
Web Release Date: August 24, 2007

Copyright © 2007 American Chemical Society

Separation of Nanoparticles by Gel Electrophoresis According to Size and Shape

Matthias Hanauer, Sebastien Pierrat, Inga Zins, Alexander Lotz, and Carsten Sönnichsen*

Institute for Physical Chemistry, University of Mainz, Jakob-Welder-Weg 11, 55128 Mainz, Germany

Received July 5, 2007

Revised August 4, 2007

Abstract:

We demonstrate the separation of gold and silver nanoparticles according to their size and shape by agarose gel electrophoresis after coating them with a charged polymer layer. The separation is monitored optically using the size- and shape-dependent plasmon resonance of noble metal particles and confirmed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Electrophoretic mobilities are quantitatively explained by a model based on the Henry formula, providing a theoretical framework for predicting gel mobilities of polymer coated nanoparticles.


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