Diblock copolymer micelles as surface-functionalized particles and direct decoration of nanoparticles on their surface

Abstract

Surface modification is essential to attach optically or catalytically active nanoparticles on the surface of colloidal particles. In this article, we demonstrated that diblock copolymer micelles can be used as surface-functionalized particles and they can be coated with Ag or TiO2 nanoparticles without surface modification. We first obtained dopamine-functionalized diblock copolymers which were synthesized by the reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer polymerization and followed by the post-polymerization modification. By dissolving this amphiphilic diblock copolymer in water, spherical micelles with the dopamine-functionalized coronas were induced, which are essentially equivalent to polymeric particles with dopamine-functionalized surface. Thus, without additional surface functionalization, we were able to directly decorate these particles with Ag and TiO2 nanoparticles due to the dopamine functionality on their surface.