The thermal stability of gold nanodumbbells (NDs) is studied in aqueous solution of ionic surfactants. It is found in aqueous solution of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide that the blue-shift of longitudinal surface plasmon resonance band of gold NDs occurs at 75 °C and the new gold nanorods (NRs) with shortened aspect ratio are formed at the same time. The aspect ratio of the generated gold NRs gradually decreases and finally approaches ∼1.7 after repeated processing. Similarly, the same results are also obtained in aqueous solution of sodium dodecyl sulfate at room temperature. Mechanism is proposed for the shape transformation of gold NDs.
