Issue 7, 2015

Controllable assembly of two types of metal nanoparticles onto block copolymer nanospheres with ordered spatial distribution

Abstract

In this study, we report a novel method to assemble two types of metal nanoparticles onto poly(styrene-b-2-vinylpyridine) (PS-P2VP) block copolymer nanospheres with ordered spatial distribution. As a first step, core–shell metal–polymer particles have been fabricated, which consist of dodecanethiol (DT)–Au aggregation as core and PS-P2VP block copolymer as shell. Such core–shell particles have been obtained by swelling the DT–Au contained PS-P2VP nanoblocks, which are derived from Rayleigh instability of DT–Au@PS-P2VP nanotubes inside the cylindrical nanopores of anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membranes. The core size and shell thickness of the particles can be tuned by the weight ratio of PS-P2VP to DT–Au content. An increase of the DT–Au content results in an increase of the DT–Au core size, combined with a red shift of the surface plasmon absorption peak in the UV-vis spectra. Such core–shell particles have been further decorated with Pd nanoparticles on the shell due to the microphase separation of the PS-P2VP, which shows efficient catalytic activity for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol by NaBH4. Thus, the Au and Pd nanoparticles have been selectively assembled onto the PS-P2VP particles with ordered spatial distribution, leading to composite particles with multiple functions from both metal nanoparticles.

Graphical abstract: Controllable assembly of two types of metal nanoparticles onto block copolymer nanospheres with ordered spatial distribution

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
29 Oct 2014
Accepted
08 Dec 2014
First published
08 Dec 2014

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2015,3, 3382-3389

Author version available

Controllable assembly of two types of metal nanoparticles onto block copolymer nanospheres with ordered spatial distribution

S. Mei, J. Cao and Y. Lu, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2015, 3, 3382 DOI: 10.1039/C4TA05827E

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