A novel avenue to gold nanostructured microtubes using functionalized fiber as the ligand, the reductant, and the template.

Gold nanostructured microtubes (AuNMTs) are prepared using a tertiary amine group-functionalized polyethylene (PE)-coated polypropylene (PP) nonwoven fabric as a ligand, a reductant, and a template, which takes advantage of the different radiation effects of PE and PP. The Au(III) ions are absorbed and reduced only in the PE layer to form the aggregation of gold nanoparticles; thus, AuNMTs are obtained after the calcination.