A General Approach to Synthesize Asymmetric Hybrid Nanoparticles by Interfacial Reactions

Jie He†, Maria Teresa Perez†, Peng Zhang‡, Yijing Liu†, Taarika Babu†, Jinlong Gong*‡, and Zhihong Nie*†

^† Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, United States

^‡ Key Laboratory for Green Chemical Technology of Ministry of Education, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China

J. Am. Chem. Soc., Article ASAP

DOI: 10.1021/ja210844h

Publication Date (Web): February 9, 2012

Copyright © 2012 American Chemical Society

Asymmetric multicomponent nanoparticles (AMNPs) offer new opportunities for new-generation materials with improved or new synergetic properties not found in their individual components. There is, however, an urgent need for a synthetic strategy capable of preparing hybrid AMNPs with fine-tuned structural and compositional complexities. Herein, we report a new paradigm for the controllable synthesis of polymer/metal AMNPs with well-controlled size, shape, composition, and morphology by utilizing interfacial polymerization. The hybrid AMNPs display a new level of structural–architectural sophistication, such as controlled domain size and the number of each component of AMNPs. The approach is simple, versatile, cost-effective, and scalable for synthesizing large quantities of AMNPs. Our method may pave a new route to the design and synthesis of advanced breeds of building blocks for functional materials and devices.