The combined functionality of components in organic−inorganic hybrid nanomaterials render them efficient nanoreactors. However, the development in this field is limited due to a lack of synthetic avenues and systematic control of the growth kinetics of hybrid structures. In this work, we take advantage of an ionic switch for regio-control of Au-BINOL(1,1′-Bi-2-naphthol) hybrid nanostructures. Aromatic BINOL molecules assemble into nanospheres, concomitant with the growth of the Au nanocrystals. The morphological evolution of Au nanocrystals is solely controlled by the presence of halides in the synthetic system. Here we show that quaternary ammonium surfactants (CTAB or CTAC), not only bridging Au and BINOL, but also contributing to the formation of concentric or eccentric structures when their concentrations are tuned to the range of 10 −5 to 10 −3 M. This facile strategy offers the potential advantage of scalable production, with diverse functional organic−inorganic hybrid nanocomposites being produced based on the specific archetype of Au-BINOL hybrid nanocomposites.

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Advances in new systems of organic−inorganic hybrid nanocomposites are less prevalent, owing to a lack of facile strategies for precise control of their structures, compositions, and, hence, their properties. In this work, Au-BINOL hybrid nanocomposites with eccentric and concentric nanostructures were produced. The hybrid nanocomposites containing two distinct moieties of inorganic Au nanocrystals and organic BINOL nanospheres were applied to the catalytic hydrogenation of 4-nitrophenol with NaBH 4 in the aqueous phase with and without the illumination of visible light. Here, we demonstrate that the existence of Au−BINOL interfaces offers benefits to their performance. The eccentric nanostructures made with CTAC show the superior activity from large Au−BINOL interfaces formed between the BINOL nanospheres and the faces of Au nanoplates. They further exhibit a high Au localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR)enhancement effect on the photoreduction of 4-nitrophenol, which is attributed to the strong LSPR absorption of exposed Au nanocrystals unaffected by the coverage of BINOL shells.