Gold nanocrystal formation on viologen-functionalized polymeric nanospheres

Abstract

The preparation of well-dispersed polymeric nanospheres functionalized with viologen moieties and gold nanoparticles was presented. The polymer-metal nanocomposite was achieved through emulsion polymerization to obtain poly(vinylbenzyl chloride) (PVBC) nanospheres followed by the attachment of viologen pendants and utilizing the redox properties of vilogen. This reduced gold ions from gold salt solutions onto the surface of the nanospheres. It was observed that most of the particles were in the range of 60 to 75 nm with a mean diameter of 64 nm. With the platinum coating, the average diameter was observed to be about 10 nm larger.