Herein, we report an extremely simple, fast and controllable method for preparing gold nanoclusters (GNC) and gold nanospheres (GNS) in situ onto a thiol-organofunctionalized silica gel (MPS) for catalysis and detection of latent fingerprints (LFPs). The silica gel surface was suitably modified with thiol groups by a silylation reaction method using 3-(mercaptopropyl)trimethoxysilane (MPTS). Spectroscopic data (UV-visible-NIR and PL) have shown that the as-prepared thiol-modified silica is able to reduce Au³⁺ ions in situ, producing orange-red light emitting GNCs. For preparing GNS, on the other hand, it was necessary an adsorption step followed by a reduction with NaBH₄. Various experimental conditions for the preparation of GNS were studied, such as the gold precursor and reducing agent concentrations and the reaction time. TEM, XRD and UV-visible-NIR analyses showed, respectively, the presence of approximately spherical particles with a face-centered cubic structure and a plasmon resonance band, which is controllable by changing those synthesis parameters. The as-prepared samples have shown high catalytic activity for the reduction of an AZO dye in aqueous solution, being able to decolorize 92% of the dye content within only 40 min. GNS/MPS and bare MPS have also shown enhanced activity for detecting LFPs deposited over porous and non-porous surfaces, including glass, polymer, paper, metal, leather, ceramic and wood. Our method has shown to be a suitable alternative for conventional techniques, it is easier to apply, fast-responsive, reusable, durable and thermally stable.

在本文中，我们报告了一种非常简单，快速且可控制的方法，用于在硫醇有机官能化硅胶（MPS）上原位制备金纳米团簇（GNC）和金纳米球（GNS），用于催化和检测潜在指纹（LFP）。通过使用3-（巯基丙基）三甲氧基硅烷（MPTS）的甲硅烷基化反应方法，用硫醇基对硅胶表面进行适当的改性。光谱数据（UV-visible-NIR和PL）表明，所制备的硫醇改性二氧化硅能够原位还原Au ³⁺离子，从而产生橘红色发光的GNC。另一方面，对于制备GNS，必须进行吸附步骤，然后用NaBH ₄还原。研究了制备GNS的各种实验条件，例如金前体和还原剂的浓度以及反应时间。TEM，XRD和UV-NIR分析分别表明，存在近似球形的颗粒，具有面心立方结构和等离振子共振带，可通过更改这些合成参数来控制。所制备的样品对还原水溶液中的AZO染料表现出很高的催化活性，仅在40分钟内即可使92％的染料含量脱色。GNS / MPS和裸MPS还显示出增强的功能，可检测沉积在多孔和无孔表面（包括玻璃，聚合物，纸张，金属，皮革，陶瓷和木材）上的LFP。我们的方法已证明是常规技术的合适替代方法，