A novel approach to the construction of core–shell gold–polyaniline nanoparticles

Abstract

Uniform core–shell gold–polyaniline (Au–PANI) nanoparticles weresuccessfully fabricated by in situ polymerization of aniline usingpoly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-co-poly(acrylic acid) (PNIPAM-co-PAA)/AuNP hybridmicrogel particles as a template. TEM images gave direct evidence of the core–shellnanostructure of Au–PANI particles, which were composed of gold nanoparticles as thecore and polyaniline as the shell. The shell thickness of as-prepared core–shellAu–PANI nanoparticles can be easily tuned by controlling the reaction time. Apossible mechanism for the formation of core–shell Au–PANI nanostructures wasproposed. This novel synthetic method may be extended to the synthesis of othercore–shell nanostructures with diverse functionality and high colloidal stability.