Characterization of the wetting behavior of place exchanged mixed-monolayer-protected gold nanoparticles

Mixed-monolayer-protected gold nanoparticles have been shown to have self assembling ligand shells. Given certain ligand concentrations, the NP shell can spontaneously form complex ordered domains with domain spacing as small as five angstroms. It has been proven that the solubility of NPs synthesized using a one step method is almost solely dependent on the corresponding ligand shell morphology. We have attempted to get a better understanding of the morphological differences between NPs synthesized in one step and those synthesized through place exchange by comparing their solubility characteristics. Both types NPs were functionalized using different concentrations two immiscible ligands. The place exchanged NPs almost certainly form a type of ripple shell morphology due to the presence of nonmonotonic solubility peaks in polar solvents at low hydrophilic ligand concentrations. Based on the solubility results, we conclude that the ligand shell morphology must be different for place exchanged and one step nanoparticles. The differences are most likely due to the mechanism by which place exchange populates the nanoparticles.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2009

Author dc:creator

• Rosemond, St. Julien Palmer, III

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Francesco Stellacci.

• Materials Science and Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/58273

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/58273