Aqueous-organic phase-transfer of highly stable gold, silver, and platinum nanoparticles and new route for fabrication of gold nanofilms at the oil/water interface and on solid supports

A simple but effective aqueous-organic phase-transfer method for gold, silver, and platinum nanoparticles was developed on the basis of the decrease of the PVP's solubility in water with the temperature increase. The present method is superior in the transfer efficiency of highly stable nanoparticles to the common phase-transfer methods. The gold, silver, and platinum nanoparticles transferred to the 1-butanol phase dispersed well, especially silver and platinum particles almost kept the previous particle size. Electrochemical synthesis of gold nanoparticles in an oil-water system was achieved by controlling the reaction temperature at 80 degrees C, which provides great conveniences for collecting metal particles at the oil/water interface and especially for fabricating dense metal nanoparticle films. A technique to fabricate gold nanofilms on solid supports was also established. The shapes and sizes of gold nanoparticles as the building blocks may be controllable through changing reaction conditions.     

Size-selective synthesis of gold and platinum nanoparticles using novel thiol-functionalized ionic liquids

One-phase synthesis of gold and platinum nanoparticles using new thiol-functionalized ionic liquids (TFILs) is described for the first time. TFILs as stabilizing agents for gold and platinum nanoparticles were designed to have thiol groups on either the cation or anion and symmetrical or unsymmetrical positions only in the cation. Transmission electron microscopy, electron diffraction, and NMR were used for the characterization of nanoparticles. The metal nanoparticles formed using TFILs are crystalline structures with face-centered cubic packing arrangements and have small sizes (the average diameters are 3.5, 3.1, and 2.0 nm for Au and 3.2, 2.2, and 2.0 nm for Pt, respectively) and uniform distributions (the standard deviations are 0.7, 0.5, and 0.1 nm for Au and 1.1, 0.2, and 0.1 for Pt, respectively). It is believed that the nanoparticle size and distribution depend on the number and position of thiol groups in the IL.     

Disperse Electrolytic Platinum and Palladium Deposits of Submicron Thickness on Polycrystalline Supports: An X-ray Diffractometry and Microscopy Study

The structure of model electrode materials broadly used in electrocatalysis (platinized platinum, palladized platinum, platinized gold) is studied by x-ray diffractometry, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. Disperse platinum and palladium coatings less than 1 m thick are obtained by potentiostatic or galvanostatic deposition from solutions of complex chloride salts. Lattice parameters of disperse metals are shown to be considerably smaller than those of bulky crystals. Some new tendencies of variations in structural parameters with the deposition potential are revealed. Special attention is paid to a reliable determination of the size of regions of coherent scattering (ROCS) and microdistortion; in connection with this, results of approximation of reflections by various functions and a harmonic analysis of reflections are compared. The latter are used for constructing ROCS distributions by size. Good agreement is found with the STM data for platinum deposits obtained earlier. Conversely, in the case of palladium deposits, ROCS are smaller than the particle size in an outer layer of the deposit by the STM data. This result is interpreted in terms of strong concrescence of palladium nanoparticles. To determine the true surface areas of deposits and estimate continuousness of covering the support by the deposit and regularities of platinum aging on gold in conditions of potential cycling, a voltammetry method is applied.     

Formation process of two-dimensional networked gold nanowires by citrate reduction of AuCl4- and the shape stabilization

Gold nanowires with a two-dimensional (2-D) network structure were formed by citrate reduction of AuCl4- with a low concentration of citrate. The structure change during the growth processes was observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and the variation in concentrations of gold species in the aqueous solution was monitored by UV-vis spectra and Inductively Coupled Argon Plasma Emission Spectrophotometer (ICAP). The formation of 2-D gold nanowires was induced by the small amount of reducing agent because the preliminary gold nanoparticles formed by reduction of AuCl4- were thermodynamically unstable in the aqueous solution due to the insufficient capping of citrate. One of the key points of nanowire formation is the preferential adsorption of AuCl4- instead of citrate ions on the surface of the preliminary gold particles, which results in an attracting force between gold nanoparticles. We propose a hit-to-stick-to-fusion model, in which gold nanoparticles adhere by the attraction force and stick together, causing selective deposition of reduced gold metallic species on the concave surface of the two sticking particles, followed by fusion into nanowires. Nanowires then connect with each other, forming a network structure. The evidence obtained from TEM observation of transformation from gold nanowires on a TEM grid to large nanoparticles by hydrogen gas reduction and time-resolved measurements of gold ions suggest that gold ions not only are crucial for the growth of gold nanowires but also play an important role in stabilizing the shape of gold nanowires during the formation process. This method for synthesizing 2-D gold nanowires is simple and relatively easy application to the synthesis of other metallic nanowires such as silver or platinum is expected.     

Electrochemical and spectroscopic characterization of surface sol-gel processes

(3-Mercaptopropyl)trimethoxysilane (MTS) forms a unique film on a platinum substrate by self-assembly and sol-gel cross-linking. The gelating and drying states of the self-assembled MTS sol-gel films were probed by use of electrochemical and spectroscopic methods. The thiol moiety was the only active group within the sol-gel network. Gold nanoparticles were employed to detect the availability of the thiol group and their interaction further indicated the physicochemical states of the sol-gel inner structure. It was found that the thiol groups in the open porous MTS aerogel matrix were accessible to the gold nanoparticles while thiol groups in the compact MTS xerogel network were not accessible to the gold nanoparticles. The characteristics of the sol-gel matrix change with time because of its own irreversible gelating and drying process. The present work provides direct evidence of gold nanoparticle binding with thiol groups within the sol-gel structures and explains the different permeability of "aerogel" and "xerogel" films of MTS on the basis of electrochemical and spectroscopic results. Two endogenous species, hydrogen peroxide and ascorbic acid, were used to test the permeability of the self-assembled sol-gel film in different states. The MTS xerogel film on the platinum electrode was extremely selective against ascorbic acid while maintaining high sensitivity to hydrogen peroxide in contrast to the relatively high permeability of ascorbic acid in the MTS aerogel film. This study showed the potential of the MTS sol-gel film as a nanoporous material in biosensor development.     

聚合物保护贵金属纳米粒子的相转移技术

依据聚乙烯吡咯烷酮(PVP)在水中的溶解度随温度升高而降低的特性,建立了将PVP保护的金、银、铂纳米粒子从水相转移到油相的简单而有效的相转移技术.方法是利用电化学还原法先于水溶液中制备粒度均匀的金属纳米粒子,然后向电化学合成后的金属纳米水溶胶中加入适量正丁醇,在搅拌条件下升温至80℃即可使金属纳米粒子从水相转移至有机相.纳米粒子的相转移效率很高,而且相转移后粒子在油相中分散很好,没有团聚现象发生.在此基础上进一步建立在油水混合体系电化学合成金属纳米粒子的实验方法,为收集纳米粒子和制备纳米粒子薄膜提供了新的有效途径.     

贵金属纳米颗粒在玻碳电极上的层层组装

采用表面活性剂二辛酯琥珀酸磺酸钠(AOT, sodiumbis(2-ethylhexyl)sulfosuccinate)微乳法可以制备得到各种贵金属纳米颗粒(包括银、金、铂以及钯),其性质利用紫外-可见吸收光谱、透射电镜、X-射线衍射、傅立叶变换红外光谱以及Zeta电位分析进行了表征。通过层层自组装方法,将带有负电荷的Pt纳米颗粒和聚阳离子(聚烯丙基氯化铵, PAH)自组装到玻碳电极上,并研究了该修饰电极对甲醇的电催化氧化性质。     

Kinetic and mechanistic investigations of the light induced formation of gold nanoparticles on the surface of TiO2

The kinetics of the formation of gold nanoparticles on the surface of pre-illuminated TiO(2) have been investigated using stopped-flow technique and steady state UV/Vis spectroscopy. Excess electrons were loaded on the employed nanosized titanium dioxide particles by UV-A photolysis in the presence of methanol serving as hole scavenger, stored on them in the absence of oxygen and subsequently used for the reduction of Au(III) ions. The formation of gold nanoparticles with an average diameter of 5 nm was confirmed after mixing of the TiO(2) nanoparticles loaded with electrons with aqueous solution of tetrachloroaureate (HAuCl(4)) by their surface plasmon absorbance band at 530 nm, as well as by XRD and HRTEM measurements. The rate of formation of the gold nanoparticles was found to be a function of the concentration of the gold ions and the concentration of the stored electrons, respectively. The effect of PVA as a stabilizer of the gold nanoclusters was also studied. The observed kinetic behavior suggests that the formation of the gold nanoparticles on the TiO(2) surface is an autocatalytic process comprising of two main steps: 1) Reduction of the gold ions by the stored electrons on TiO(2) forming gold atoms that turn into gold nuclei. 2) Growth of the metal nuclei on the surface of TiO(2) forming the gold particles. Interestingly, at higher TiO(2) electron loading the excess electrons are subsequently transferred to the deposited gold metal particles resulting in "bleaching" of their surface plasmon band. This bleaching in the surface plasmon band is explained by the Fermi level equilibration of the Au/TiO(2) nanocomposites. Finally, the reduction of water resulting in the evolution of molecular hydrogen initiated by the excess electrons that have been transferred to the previously formed gold particles has also been observed. The mechanism of the underlying multistep electron-transfer process has been discussed in detail.     

Facile electrocatalytic redox of hemoglobin by flower-like gold nanoparticles on boron-doped diamond surface

The flower-like gold nanoparticles together with spherical and convex polyhedron gold nanoparticles were fabricated on boron-doped diamond (BDD) surface by one-step and simple electrochemical method through easily controlling the applied potential and the concentration of HAuCl(4). The recorded X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns confirmed that these three shapes of gold nanoparticles were dominated by different crystal facets. The cyclic voltammetric results indicated that the morphology of gold nanoparticles plays big role in their electrochemical behaviors. The direct electrochemistry of hemoglobin (Hb) was realized on all the three different shapes of nanogold-attached BDD surface without the aid of any electron mediator. In pH 4.5 acetate buffer solutions (ABS), Hb showed a pair of well defined and quasi-reversible redox peaks. However, the results obtained demonstrated that the redox peak potential, the average surface concentration of electroactive heme, and the electron transfer rates of Hb are greatly dependent upon the surface morphology of gold nanoparticles. The electron transfer rate constant of hemoglobin over flower-like nanogold/BDD electrode was more than two times higher than that over spherical and convex polyhedron nanogold. The observed differences may be ascribed to the difference in gold particle characteristics including surface roughness, exposed surface area, and crystal structure.     

Self-organization of surfactant-metal-ion complex nanofibers on graphite surfaces and their application to fibrously concentrated platinum nanoparticle formation

We report the fabrication of self-organized surfactant nanofibers containing platinum ions on a highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) surface from mixed solutions of hexadecyltrimethylammonium hydroxide (C16TAOH) and hydrogen hexachloroplatinate (IV) (H2PtCl6). The fibrous surfactant self-assembly was stable in air, even after being soaked in water, in contrast to surfactant hemicylindrical micelles, which are stable only at graphite/solution interfaces. The results show that the graphite surface served as an essential template for the specific formation of fibrous surfactant self-assemblies. In addition, when surfactant nanofibers containing metal ions were treated with hydrazine, platinum nanoparticles concentrated in the nanofibers formed on the HOPG surface. We also prepared surfactant nanofibers containing gold ions on HOPG surfaces and formed gold nanoparticles in the nanofibers.     

Thermosensitive copolymer networks modify gold nanoparticles for nanocomposite entrapment

The core-shell gold nanoparticles and copolymer of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM) and N,N'-methylenebisacrylamide (MBAA) hybrids (Au@copolymer) were fabricated through surface-initiated atom-transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) on the surface of gold nanoparticles in 2-propanol/water mixed solvents. The surface of citrate-stabilized gold nanoparticles was first modified by a disulfide initiator for ATRP. The slight cross-linking polymerization between NIPAM and MBAA occurred on the gold surface and resulted in the formation of core-shell Au@copolymer nanostructures that were characterized by TEM, and FTIR and UV-visible spectroscopy. Such synthesized Au@copolymer hybrids possess clearly thermosensitive properties and exhibit "inspire" and "expire" water behavior in response to temperature changes in aqueous solution. Because of this property, we enable to trap and encapsulate smaller nanoparticles by using the free space of the copolymer-network scaffold anchored at the gold surface.     

Preparation of polymer-protected gold/platinum bimetallic clusters and their application to visible light-induced hydrogen evolution

The dispersions of polymer-protected gold/platinum bimetallic clusters were easily and reproducibly prepared by refluxing the mixed solutions of tetrachloroaureic(III) acid and hexachloroplatinic(IV) acid in ethanol/water (1/1) at 90 ∼ 95 °C for 2 h in the presence of a protective polymer such as poly(N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone) (PVP). The gold/platinum bimetallic clusters thus obtained were very small, well dispersed and very stable. The UV-Vis spectra and the transmission electron micrographs have indicated that each bimetallic particle has an alloy structure consisting of both gold and platinum atoms, and that the surface of the cluster particle is rich in platinum atoms and the inner core in gold atoms. The gold/platinum bimetallic clusters were used as the multi-electron redox catalysts for visible light-induced hydrogen evolution from water. The rate of hydrogen evolution depended on the mole ratio of the gold/platinum bimetallic clusters. The bimetallic clusters at the mole ratio of Au/Pt = 2/3 were the most active catalyst. The in-situ UV-Vis spectra during the reaction have indicated that the order of the aggregation in the two kinds of metal atoms is very important for structure determination of the Au/Pt bimetallic clusters. The protective polymer PVP plays a role not only in protecting hydrophobic colloidal particles in an aqueous solution, but also in determining the metal composition of the cluster surface.     

具有温度响应壳层的金纳米粒子的制备

利用可逆-加成断裂链转移聚合得到全亲水性的嵌段共聚物(PEO-b-PNIPAM), 通过"grafting to"使其接枝到金纳米粒子表面. 通过透射电子显微镜、 紫外-可见吸收光谱、 能谱分析及动态光散射研究了杂化的金纳米粒子的壳层结构及温度响应行为. 实验结果表明, 得到核壳结构的金纳米粒子, 同时其壳层具有温度响应行为. 随着温度的升高, 其流体力学半径略有减小. 在整个升温过程中, 由于外层PEO链段的抑制作用, 没有发生粒子间的聚集.     

新型双链表面活性剂DDOBA的合成与高单分散性憎水纳米金的制备

自行设计合成了新颖的苄胺型双链表面活性剂3,4-双十二烷氧基苄胺(DDOBA). 利用DDOBA/正丁醇/正庚烷/甲酸/HAuCl₄·4H₂O自发形成的水/油(W/O)型微乳液作为微反应器, 通过微波辐射下的甲酸还原法成功制备了DDOBA保护的憎水性金纳米粒子, 并通过紫外-可见(UV-Vis)光谱、透射电镜(TEM)、高分辨透射电镜(HR-TEM)和X射线衍射(XRD)等方法进行了表征和分析. 结果显示, DDOBA既可参与形成稳定的W/O型(油包水型)微乳液, 又可作为金纳米粒子的良好保护剂. 在合适的微乳液体系组成范围内, 用本实验方法可以获得高单分散性的憎水性金纳米粒子, 并能在空气/水界面上自动形成大面积短程有序的纳米金二维自组装膜.     

Inside-out disruption of silica/gold core-shell nanoparticles by pulsed laser irradiation

Near-infrared (NIR) femtosecond laser irradiation of metallodielectric core-shell silica-gold (SiO(2)-Au) nanoparticles can induce extreme local heating prior to the rapid dissipation of energy caused by the large surface area/volume ratio of nanometer-scale objects. At low pulse intensities, the dielectric silica core is removed, leaving an incomplete gold shell behind. The gold shells with water inside and out still efficiently absorb NIR light from subsequent pulses, showing that a complete shell is not necessary for absorption. At higher pulse intensities, the gold shell itself is melted and disrupted, leading to smaller, approximately 20-nm gold nanoparticles. Spectroscopic measurements show that this disruption is accompanied by optical hole burning of the peak at 730 nm and formation of a new peak at 530 nm. The silica removal and gold shell disruption confirms significant temperature rise of the core-shall nanoparticle. However, the entire process leads to minimal heating of the bulk solution due to the low net energy input.     

Directed Self‐Assembly of Diblock Copolymer Thin Films on Prepatterned Metal Nanoarrays

The sequential layer by layer self‐assembly of block copolymer (BCP) nanopatterns is an effective approach to construct 3D nanostructures. Here large‐scale highly ordered metal nano­arrays prepared from solvent annealed thin films of polystyrene‐block‐poly(2‐vinylpyridine) (PS‐b‐P2VP) diblock copolymer are used to direct the assembly of the same BCP. The influence of initial loading concentration of metal precursor, the type of metal nanoparticle (gold, platinum, and silver), and the nanoparticle–substrate interaction on the directed assembly behavior of the upper BCP layer have been focused. It is found that the upper BCP film can be completely directed by the gold nanoarray with P2VP domain exclusively located between two adjacent gold nanowires or nanodots, which behaves the same way as on the platinum nanoarray. While the silver nanoarray can be destroyed during the upper BCP self‐assembly with the silver nanoparticles assembled into the P2VP domain. Based on the discussions of the surface energy of nanoparticles and the interplay between nanoparticle–substrate interaction and nanoparticle–polymer interaction, it is concluded that the effect of immobilization of nanoparticles on the substrate, together with entropy effect to minimize the energetically unfavorable chain stretching contributes to the most effective alignment between each layer.

     

Deposition of continuous platinum shells on gold nanoparticles by chemical precipitation

Continuous platinum shells consisting of ~5 atomic layers were deposited onto preformed gold seeds in aqueous medium by reducing hexachloroplatinic acid with ascorbic acid. By controlling the reduction kinetics of Pt(IV) species and the properties of the substrate, it was possible to ensure a slow and controlled deposition of platinum atoms onto the gold cores. Electrochemical evaluations revealed the presence of a compact platinum shell. The mass specific oxygen reduction activity of platinum in the AuPt core-shell nanoparticles was found to be four times higher than that of platinum black and comparable to that of polycrystalline bulk metal.     

Electrochemistry of conductive polymers 39. Contacts between conducting polymers and noble metal nanoparticles studied by current-sensing atomic force microscopy

Electrical properties of contacts formed between conducting polymers and noble metal nanoparticles have been examined using current-sensing atomic force microscopy (CS-AFM). Contacts formed between electrochemically prepared pi-conjugated polymer films such as polypyrrole (PPy), poly(3-methylthiophene) (P3MeT), as well as poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) and noble metal nanoparticles including platinum (Pt), gold (Au), and silver (Ag) have been examined. The Pt nanoparticles were electrochemically deposited on a pre-coated PPy film surface by reducing a platinum precursor (PtCl62-) at a constant potential. Both current and scanning electron microscopic images of the film showed the presence of Pt islands. The Au and Ag nanoparticles were dispersed on the P3MeT and PEDOT film surfaces simply by dipping the polymer films into colloid solutions containing Au or Ag particles for specified periods (5 to approximately 10 min). The deposition of Au or Ag particles resulted from either their physical adsorption or chemical bonding between particles and the polymer surface depending on the polymer. When compared with PPy, P3MeT and PEDOT showed a stronger binding to Au or Ag nanoparticles when dipped in their colloidal solutions for the same period. This indicates that Au and Ag particles are predominantly linked with the sulfur atoms via chemical bonding. Of the two, PEDOT was more conductive at the sites where the particles are connected to the polymer. It appears that PEDOT has better aligned sulfur atoms on the surface and is strongly bonded to Au and Ag nanoparticles due to their strong affinity to gold and silver. The current-voltage curves obtained at the metal islands demonstrate that the contacts between these metal islands and polymers are ohmic.     

Polyamidoamine dendrimers-assisted electrodeposition of gold-platinum bimetallic nanoflowers

Novel Au-Pt bimetallic flower nanostructures fabricated on a polyamidoamine dendrimers-modified surface by electrodeposition are reported. These polyamidoamine dendrimers were stable, and they assisted the formation of Au-Pt bimetallic nanoflowers during the electrodeposition process. These nanoflowers were characterized by field-emitted scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction, and electrochemical methods. FE-SEM images showed that the bimetallic nanoflower included two parts: the "light" and the "pale" part. The two parts consisted of many small bimetallic nanoparticles, which was attributed to the progressive nucleation process. Moreover, the "light" part contained more bimetallic nanoparticles. The morphologies of bimetallic nanoflowers depended on the electrodeposition time and potential and the layer number of assembled dendrimers. The average size of nanoflowers increased with the increase in electrodeposition time. The layer number of assembled dendrimers obviously affected the size and morphologies of the "pale" parts of deposited nanoflowers. EDS and XPS indicated that the content of Au element was higher than that of Pt element in the nanoflowers. The bimetallic nanoflowers-modified electrode had electrochemical properties similar to those of bare gold and platinum electrodes. It also exhibited significant electrocatalytic activities toward oxygen reduction.     

Preparation and properties of silica–gold core–shell particles

Silica-metal core–shell particles, as for instance those having siliceous core and nanostructured gold shell, attracted a lot of attention because of their unique properties resulting from combination of mechanical and thermal stability of silica and magnetic, electric, optical and catalytic properties of metal nanocrystals such as gold, silver, platinum and palladium. Often, the shell of the core–shell particles consists of a large number of metal nanoparticles deposited on the surface of relatively large silica particles, which is the case considered in this work. Namely, silica particles having size of about 600 nm were subjected to surface modification with 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane. This modification altered the surface properties of silica particles, which was demonstrated by low pressure nitrogen adsorption at ?196 °C. Next, gold nanoparticles were deposited on the surface of aminopropyl-modified silica particles using two strategies: (i) direct deposition of gold nanoparticles having size of about 10 nm, and (ii) formation of gold nanoparticles by adsorption of tetrachloroauric acid on aminopropyl groups followed by its reduction with formaldehyde.The overall morphology of silica–gold particles and the distribution of gold nanoparticles on the surface of modified silica colloids were characterized by scanning electron microscopy. It was shown that direct deposition of colloidal gold on the surface of large silica particles gives more regular distribution of gold nanopartciles than that obtained by reduction of tetrachloroauric acid. In the latter case the gold layer consists of larger nanoparticles (size of about 50 nm) and is less regular. Note that both deposition strategies afforded silica–gold particles having siliceous cores covered with shells consisting of gold nanoparticles of tunable concentration.