Templated formation of silver nanoparticles using amphiphilic poly(epichlorohydrine-g-styrene) film

Abstract

This work has demonstrated that a novel amphiphilic poly(epichlorohydrine)-graft-polystyrene (PECHg-PS) copolymer at 34:66 wt% was synthesized via atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of styrene using PECH as a macroinitiator. The structure of the graft copolymer was characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance ( 1 H NMR) and FTIR spectroscopy, demonstrating that the "grafting from" method using ATRP was successful. The self-assembled graft copolymer was used as a template film for the in-situ growth of silver nanoparticles from AgCF 3 SO 3 precursor under UV irradiation. The in situ formation of silver nanoparticles with 6-8 nm in average size in the solid state template film was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV-visible spectroscopy and wide angle X-ray scattering (WAXS). Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) also displayed the selective incorporation and the in situ formation of silver nanoparticles within the hydrophilic PECH domains, probably due to stronger interaction of the silvers with the ether oxygens of PECH backbone than that with hydrophobic PS side chains.

Electrospinning of polylactide fibers containing silver nanoparticles

“…[16][17][18] Extensive research into the reduction of silver nitrate (AgNO 3 ) by means such as UV irradiation, hydrogen, hydrazinium hydroxide, heat treatment, and chemical treatment has been undertaken. [19][20][21][22][23][24][25] Jing et al 6 and Youk et al 23,24 prepared nanofibers with silver nanoparticles using dimethylformamide as the reducing agent.…”

Improved electron transfer and plasmonic effect in dye-sensitized solar cells with bi-functional Nb-doped TiO2/Ag ternary nanostructures

“…Second, upon the introduction of an Ag precursor to the TiO 2 -POEM and subsequent selective reduction by heating, the Nb-doped TiO 2 /Ag ternary nanostructure showed a dramatic increase in the absorption spectrum in the visible range with the appearance of a broad peak ranging from 400 nm to 460 nm, which is attributed to the plasmon resonance absorption peak arising from the Ag nanoparticles. 43 Compared with the UV-vis absorption spectra of Ag nanoparticles based on polymer templates in our earlier reports, 43,44 the absorption peak of the Nb-doped TiO 2 /Ag ternary nanostructure exhibited a red shi to 460 nm, which is due to the higher refractive index surrounding the Ag of the inorganic material TiO 2 than that of the organic polymer template. Thus, we can expect that the improved plasmon excitation in the optical density of incoming light near the surface of the Ag nanoparticle in the ternary nanostructure is capable of signicantly enhancing the light harvesting efficiency, leading to the higher energy conversion efficiency of DSSCs.…”

Amphiphilic Graft Copolymers as Templates for the Generation of Binary Metal Oxide Mesoporous Interfacial Layers for Solid-State Photovoltaic Cells

“…The amphiphilic graft copolymers PECH- g -PS were used as structure-directing agents for the bi-MO meso IF layer, which was synthesized using the ATRP method, as described in previous research [ 38 ]. Briefly, 2 g of PECH was dissolved in 25 mL of toluene while stirring at 70 °C for 3 h. After cooling the solution to room temperature, 12 g of styrene, 0.16 g of CuCl, and 0.48 mL of hexamethyltriethylenetetramine (HMTETA) were added to the solution.…”