Cationic Spherical Polyelectrolyte Brushes as Nanoreactors for the Generation of Gold Particles

✍ Scribed by Geeta Sharma; Matthias Ballauff

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2004
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 234 KB
• Volume: 25
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1022-1336
• DOI: 10.1002/marc.200300107

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Summary: If long polyelectrolyte chains are attached densely to colloidal latex particles, a spherical polyelectrolyte brush results. These spherical polyelectrolytes are dispersed in water and carry a high charge. We demonstrate that these systems can be used to immobilize ions of heavy metals, such as gold, as counter‐ions. Reduction of these ions leads to metallic nanoparticles. In this way the brush layer attached to the surface of the particles becomes a “nanoreactor” that may be used for chemical conversions of the metal ions. We show that the reduction of AuCl ions within these nanoreactors leads to well‐defined and rather monodisperse gold nanoparticles that are attached to the surface of the core. A stable dispersion of polymeric core particles with attached nanoparticles results. All results reported here suggest that chemical reactions of ions immobilized in spherical polyelectrolyte brushes provide a new route to composite particles of inorganic and organic materials.

Transmission electron micrograph of gold particles on a core‐shell system.

imageTransmission electron micrograph of gold particles on a core‐shell system.