Oil-in-gold nanoparticle solution emulsion stabilized with amphiphilic polymers and its stability under NIR irradiation

Oil-in-water emulsions were prepared by emulsifying mineral oil in gold nanoparticle (GNP) solution using amphiphilic polymers as an emulsifier. Poly(2-hydroxyethyl acrylate) (PHEA) and poly(2-hydroxyethyl acrylate-co-propyl methacryate) (P(HEA/PMA)) having different PMA contents (2.98%, 3.29%, 6.1%, and 8.59% (mole/mole)) were prepared by a free radical polymerization, confirmed by ¹H NMR spectroscopy. According to the optical density change of the polymer solution (2% (w/v)) at 20°C–80°C, only P(HEA/PMA) having a PMA content of 3.29 mole % showed its lower solution critical temperature around 31°C. The air/water interfacial activity of the amphiphilic polymers was higher as the PMA content was higher. GNP was prepared by reducing gold ions in water. The mean hydrodynamic diameter was 22.2?nm and it appeared sphere-like on TEM photo. The emulsion prepared using PHEA maintained its stability above 80% for 190 hours, whereas it was destabilized rapidly upon 60 minutes of near-infrared (NIR) irradiation and its stability decreased to below 20% in 20 hours. As the PMA content was higher, the stability of the emulsions prepared using P(HEA/PMA) became lower and NIR irradiation accelerated the destabilization more effectively.