No abstract

This work focuses on the synthesis of composite materials based on reduced graphene oxide reinforced with zinc oxide.

Colloidal suspensions of gold coated with silver core-shell nanoparticles in poly vinyl alcohol were prepared by the seed-mediated growth approach and a comparative study of optical and morphological properties was conducted. Two types of gold seeds were considered. For the first type, a strong reducing agent (NaBH4) and for the second one, a weak reducing agent (Na3C6H5O7) were used. Four volumes of AgNO3 solution were used to obtain silver coatings with different thicknesses. In each case, morphological and optical properties were investigated by transmission electron microscopy and ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy, respectively. Also, numerical calculations of optical absorption were performed with Matlab toolbox for the simulation of metallic nanoparticles, using a boundary element method approach. This study offers practical considerations useful as a route of synthesis at room temperature of this type of nanoparticles, in such a way that a good homogeneity and reproducibility can be achieved. Results here presented show practical details useful in the synthesis of this type of nanoparticles for applications such as catalysis.