Ultra Uniform Gold Nanospheres are designed for applications where tight control of particle size and morphology matters. Their narrow size distributions and highly spherical morphology make them particularly useful as nanoparticle reference materials and in optical, imaging, sensing, and particle-counting applications.
Compared with broader particle distributions, a more uniform nanoparticle population can reduce particle-to-particle variation in size-dependent properties such as optical scattering, extinction, surface area, and particle mass.
Need tighter control over nanoparticle size and uniformity?
Explore Ultra Uniform Gold Nanospheres for reference standards, particle counting, imaging, plasmonics, and other applications that depend on narrow size distributions.
Why Use Ultra Uniform Gold Nanospheres?
| Property | Why It Matters |
|---|---|
| Narrow Size Distribution | Reduces variation in size-dependent properties across a nanoparticle population and supports applications that require tightly controlled particle dimensions. |
| Controlled Morphology | Highly spherical particles reduce shape-related variability in optical response, particle mass, surface area, and other physical properties. |
| Consistent Optical Response | A more homogeneous particle population produces tighter ensemble optical distributions and more consistent scattering behavior. |
| Reference Material Applications | Precisely characterized particles can serve as standards for particle sizing, counting, microscopy, and other nanoparticle measurement techniques. |
Particle Size & Uniformity
Ultra Uniform Gold Nanospheres are designed to minimize particle-to-particle variation in size and shape. The histogram and TEM images below compare 50 nm Ultra Uniform Gold Nanospheres with a broader-distribution gold nanosphere formulation. The tighter histogram and more consistent particle dimensions illustrate the narrow size distribution of the Ultra Uniform material.
Comparison highlighting the narrower particle size distribution of 50 nm Ultra Uniform Gold Nanospheres.
Current Ultra Uniform Gold Nanosphere Options
Current standard Ultra Uniform Gold Nanospheres are available in nominal diameters of 10, 20, 30, 50, and 100 nm. Standard products are supplied at 0.05 mg/mL in 2 mM sodium citrate with a covalently bound PEG-carboxyl surface.
TEM coefficient-of-variation specifications are ≤5%. Refer to the Ultra Uniform Gold Nanosphere collection and individual product pages for current specifications and available volumes.
If your application requires a different size, formulation, or surface chemistry, custom nanoparticle development can be used to evaluate application-specific requirements.
Optical Properties of Ultra Uniform Gold Nanospheres
Gold nanoparticle extinction and scattering depend strongly on particle size and morphology. A narrow particle-size distribution reduces ensemble broadening caused by particle-to-particle differences and can produce a more tightly defined optical response.
The normalized spectra below compare 100 nm Ultra Uniform Gold Nanospheres with a broader-distribution gold nanosphere formulation. The narrower extinction band reflects the tighter distribution of particle dimensions within the Ultra Uniform population.
Comparison showing the narrower extinction band of 100 nm Ultra Uniform Gold Nanospheres.
Uniformity can also improve consistency in single-particle scattering measurements. Under dark-field illumination, differences in nanoparticle size and shape can produce differences in scattering intensity and color. A tightly controlled particle population therefore provides a more consistent optical signature.
Dark-field scattering from 50 nm (left) and 100 nm (right) Ultra Uniform Gold Nanospheres.
For more background on the relationship between particle size, uniformity, and optical behavior, see Gold Nanoparticle Optical Properties.
Ultra Uniform Gold Nanosphere Applications
Optical Imaging & Biological Labels
Gold nanospheres can be used as scattering labels because their optical response varies with particle size. Narrow size and shape distributions can reduce variability between individual labels, which is useful when consistent scattering behavior is important for imaging or particle-tracking experiments.
Different particle sizes can also provide distinguishable optical responses in multiplexed experimental designs, although the ability to resolve different labels depends on particle size, imaging conditions, surface functionalization, and the optical system.
Reference Materials for Electron Microscopy
Precisely sized gold nanoparticles can serve as nanoscale reference materials for electron microscopy because gold provides strong image contrast and the particle dimensions can be characterized independently.
In one nanoComposix reference-material configuration, Ultra Uniform Gold Nanospheres were coated with an electron-transparent polystyrene layer to promote assembly into evenly spaced arrays. This study-specific configuration combined controlled particle dimensions with defined particle spacing to support calibration and image-analysis workflows across a range of magnifications.
See our Ultra Uniform Colloidal Particles as Nanoscale Reference Materials white paper ↗ for more information.
Particle Number Standards
Applications such as single-particle ICP-MS, nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA), and tunable resistive pulse sensing (TRPS) depend on reference materials with well-characterized particle dimensions and number concentration.
The Ultra Uniform Gold Nanoparticle Number Standard is available in defined particle sizes and number concentration for instrument setup, calibration, and method development.
Ultra Uniform materials have also been used in research investigating particle porosity using single-particle ICP-MS. Kéri et al. demonstrated an sp-ICP-MS approach for measuring nanoparticle porosity and density ↗.
Functional Pore Size of Ultrafiltration Membranes
Highly uniform gold nanoparticles can act as size-defined probes for membrane characterization. By comparing the size and concentration of nanoparticles before and after passage through a membrane, researchers can evaluate size-dependent particle retention and estimate functional pore characteristics.
Chan et al. used mixtures of gold nanoparticles to assess commercial ultrafiltration membranes and found that size-resolved retention measurements could provide a sensitive method for probing functional pore size. The approach complements established methods such as gas-liquid and liquid-liquid displacement porosimetry.
Read the membrane pore-size study ↗.
Single-Particle Optical Sizing
A narrow particle-size distribution also makes Ultra Uniform Gold Nanospheres useful for developing and evaluating optical particle-sizing techniques. In one study, Ultra Uniform particles were used to demonstrate wide-field extinction microscopy for quantitative optical sizing of individual colloidal nanoparticles.
Read the wide-field extinction microscopy study ↗.
Nanoantennas & Plasmonic Sensing
Precisely controlled gold nanospheres can serve as building blocks in plasmonic structures where particle dimensions and optical response affect coupling between nanoscale components.
Rothe et al. incorporated Ultra Uniform Gold Nanospheres into a nanoantenna-waveguide system for subdiffractional chiral sensing. The structure coupled incident light into propagating surface plasmon polaritons and was used to investigate circular dichroism at the nanoscale.
Read the plasmonic nanoantenna study ↗.
Selected Publications & Technical Resources
The following publications feature nanoComposix Ultra Uniform Gold Nanospheres or related reference-material applications:
- Chan, Q.; Entezarian, M.; Zhou, J.; Osterloh, R.; Huang, Q.; Ellefson, M.; Mader, B.; Liu, Y.; Swierczek, M. “Gold Nanoparticle Mixture Retention Test with Single Particle Detection: A Fast and Sensitive Probe for Functional Pore Sizes of Ultrafiltration Membranes” . Journal of Membrane Science 2020, 599, 117822.
- Kéri, A.; Sápi, A.; Ungor, D.; Sebők, D.; Csapó, E.; Kónya, Z.; Galbács, G. “Porosity Determination of Nano- and Sub-micron Particles by Single Particle Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry” . Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry 2020, 35, 1139–1147.
- Payne, L. M.; Zilli, A.; Wang, Y.; Langbein, W.; Borri, P. “Quantitative High-Throughput Optical Sizing of Individual Colloidal Nanoparticles by Wide-field Imaging Extinction Microscopy – The ‘Long Shadow’ Effect” . Proceedings of SPIE 2019, 10892.
- Rothe, M.; Zhao, Y.; Müller, J.; Kewes, G.; Koch, C. T.; Lu, Y.; Benson, O. “Self-Assembly of Plasmonic Nanoantenna–Waveguide Structures for Subdiffractional Chiral Sensing” . ACS Nano 2021, 15(1), 351–361.
Choosing an Ultra Uniform Gold Nanosphere
Select particle size based on the measurement or application requirement rather than uniformity alone. Smaller and larger gold nanospheres differ in particle number per unit mass, surface area, absorption, scattering, and plasmonic response.
For more background, see Gold Nanoparticle Physical Properties and Gold Nanoparticle Optical Properties. For sizing, concentration, or surface requirements outside the standard portfolio, contact our technical team.
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