Investigation of gaseous wet methyl iodide adsorption on Ag nanoparticles embedded in organic–inorganic hybrid silica gels

Abstract

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), single-particle photoluminescence, and lifetimes were adopted to investigate the interaction properties between gaseous wet methyl iodide (CH3I) and Ag nanoparticles (Ag NPs), which are embedded into a propylethylenediamine (NH2CH2CH2NHCH2CH2CH2-, PEDA) anchored silica gel. Based on the obtained XPS resolutions and shifts of binding energies, a stronger interaction of CH3I than Ag NPs toward SiO2, methylation of amines and silanols by CH3I, the partial interaction in the Ag NPs and CH3I interface, condensation of SiO2 and PEDA, and stabilization of Ag NPs by PEDA were explained. In addition, an enhanced luminescence of Ag NP-embedded PEDA-anchored SiO2 gel (Ag NP-PEDA gel) by surrounding CH3I, and Ag NP stabilization by PEDA and CH3I were also observed from the single-particle photoluminescence and lifetimes.