The design of core-shell noble metal nanoparticle architectures is critical for a variety of catalytic, optoelectronic, and drug delivery applications. While many of these architectures are synthesized to be water-dispersible, some applications require the use of lipophilic particles. However, current strategies focus on multistage protocols for producing solid noble metal particles that include a separate phase transfer or functionalization step to alter the particle hydrophobicity. In this talk, we describe the development a one-pot synthesis strategy using a modified Tollens process that produces oil-dispersible core-shell silver-silica nanoparticles. We utilize alkyl amines as the capping agents to generate lipophilic surface coatings and stabilize the particles during the synthesis by adding a Pluronic surfactant that enhances colloidal stability in the aqueous reaction medium. We explore the effects of molecular weight of the alkyl amine on the capping efficiency and the resulting nanoparticle morphology by combining scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Furthermore, alkyl amine adsorption studies were performed using a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) and the optical properties of the particles were measured with UV-Vis spectroscopy. Our results show that oil-dispersible nanoparticles can be readily produced with well-defined shell geometries that are stabilized by effective capping of the alkyl amine species.

One-pot aqueous synthesis of core-shell nanoparticles dispersible in nonpolar solvents

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ACS Fall 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.