Encapsulation of Noble Metal Nanoparticles through Seeded Emulsion Polymerization as Highly Stable Plasmonic Systems

Abstract

The implementation of plasmonic nanoparticles in vivo remains hindered by important limitations such as biocompatibility, solubility in biological fluids, and physiological stability. A general and versatile protocol is presented, based on seeded emulsion polymerization, for the controlled encapsulation of gold and silver nanoparticles. This procedure enables the encapsulation of single nanoparticles as well as nanoparticle clusters inside a protecting polymer shell. Specifically, the efficient coating of nanoparticles of both metals is demonstrated, with final dimensions ranging between 50 and 200 nm, i.e., sizes of interest for bio-applications. Such hybrid nanocomposites display extraordinary stability in high ionic strength and oxidizing environments, along with high cellular uptake, and low cytotoxicity. Overall, the prepared nanostructures are promising candidates for plasmonic applications under biologically relevant conditions.

Nanoengineering of Gold Nanoparticles: Green Synthesis, Characterization, and Applications

“…Bio-applications of AuNPs encounter important limitations, and research efforts are being engaged in find the mechanism of biocompatibility for absorption. Scarabelli et al [85] presented a protocol for control AuNPs encapsulation covered by a block polymer shell with high stability in oxidizing and ionic environments. AuNPs were directly synthesized using the poly(isoprene)-block-poly(ethylene oxide) (PI-b-PEO) copolymer.…”

Preparation and properties of water-based acrylic emulsion-assisted flexible building tiles

“…According to the method reported in the literature, seeding emulsion polymerization was introduced for the synthesis of WPAs. 17,18 The process of polymerization was conducted in a 250 mL three-necked ask equipped with a thermometer and a constant pressure dropping funnel (one for adding preemulsion, another for feeding the solution of initiator), and placed in the water bath. First, 10 wt% of pre-emulsion was taken as the seed and then half of the mixed emulsier was added into the ask.…”

Recent Advances in Amino‐Based Molecules Assisted Control of Noble‐Metal Electrocatalysts

“…Noble‐metal nanomaterials have received extensive research attention in various fields over the past decades, such as catalysis, [ 1,2 ] sensing, [ 3,4 ] plasmonic, [ 5,6 ] diagnosis, and therapy. [ 7,8 ] Most of these applications are strongly dependent on both the size and morphology of noble‐metal nanocrystals, [ 9–15 ] especially for the electrocatalysis including oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), oxygen evolution reaction (OER), methanol oxidation reaction (MOR), formic acid oxidation reaction (FAOR), ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR).…”