Facile colloidal coating of polystyrene nanospheres with tunable gold dendritic patches

Bao H, Bihr T, Smith AS, Klupp Taylor R (2014)


Publication Language: English

Publication Status: Published

Publication Type: Journal article, Original article

Publication year: 2014

Journal

Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry

Book Volume: 6

Pages Range: 3954-3966

Journal Issue: 8

DOI: 10.1039/c3nr04016j

Abstract

Patchy particles comprise regions of differing material or chemical functionality on otherwise isotropic cores. To meet the great potential of these anisotropic structures in a wide range of application fields, completely new approaches are sought for the scalable and tunable production of patchy particles, particularly those with nanoscale dimensions. In this paper the synthesis of patchy particles via a simple colloidal route is investigated. Using surfactant-free cationic polystyrene nanospheres as core particles, gold patches are produced through the in situ reduction of chloroauric acid with ascorbic acid. The fact that such nanostructured metal patches can be heterogeneously nucleated on polymer nanospheres is related to the electrostatic interaction between core and metal precursor. Furthermore, the lateral expansion of the gold patches over the polystyrene surface is facilitated by an excess of ascorbic acid. The morphology of the patches is highly dendritic and process-induced variations in the structure are related to gold surface mobility using Monte Carlo simulations based on the diffusion limited aggregation principle. Considering the pH dependent behaviour of ascorbic acid it is possible to predict the moiety which most likely adsorbs to the polymer surface and promotes gold surface diffusion. This enables the judicious adjustment of the pH to also obtain non-dendritic patches. On account of the plasmonic behaviour of gold, the patchy particles have morphology-dependent optical properties. The systematic development of the synthetic approach described here is expected to lay a foundation for the development of functional materials based on the self- or directed-assembly of nanoscale building blocks with anisotropic interactions and properties. © the Partner Organisations 2014.

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How to cite

APA:

Bao, H., Bihr, T., Smith, A.-S., & Klupp Taylor, R. (2014). Facile colloidal coating of polystyrene nanospheres with tunable gold dendritic patches. Nanoscale, 6(8), 3954-3966. https://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c3nr04016j

MLA:

Bao, Huixin, et al. "Facile colloidal coating of polystyrene nanospheres with tunable gold dendritic patches." Nanoscale 6.8 (2014): 3954-3966.

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