In the present work we report on the study of local atomic and electronic structure of gold nanoparticles funnctionalised by thiol and amine containing long-chain ligands. The study of nanoscale atomic structure is performed by means of X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XANES: X-ray Absorption Near-Edge Structure) and computer simulation. In consequence of the experimantally obtained data analysis and computer simulation it was obtained that strong bonding takes place when 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid is bound to the gold nanoparticles surface, forming a chemical bond Au-S 0.25 nm in length. Weaker bonding is observed when forming bond between dodecylamine and gold nanoparticles surface atom resulting in Au-N bond 0.23 nm in length. Supplementary XANES spectra analysis by means of density functional theory reveals the nature of formation of the investigated nanoscale structure.

Keywords: nanoscale structure of matter, X-ray absorption spectroscopy, XANES, density functional theory, nanoparticles functionalisation