Multifunctional Properties of Commercial Bile Salts for Advanced Materials Engineering

Abstract

Applications of bile acids (BAs) and bile salts (BSs) in the nanotechnology of functional materials are described. The exceptionally strong solubilization and dispersion power of BAs/BSs is a key factor for the solubilization of dyes, drugs, and polymers for electronic, optical, and biomedical devices, fabrication of composites, based on carbon nanotubes, graphene, diamonds, quantum dots, and polymers for applications in energy storage devices, coatings for corrosion protection of metals, sensors and electronic devices. BAs/BSs have attracted attention for synthesis, design, and surface modification of advanced materials. BAs/BSs are used as reducing, capping, chelating and dispersing agents for the synthesis of nanoparticles of metals and alloys, and low temperature synthesis of stoichiometric nanostructured complex oxides. BAs/BSs exhibit unique self‐assembly properties, which are successfully used for the template synthesis of functional nanoparticles of controlled shapes. Particularly important are applications of BAs/BSs in the fabrication of dye sensitized solar cells with enhanced efficiency. Electrochemical strategies are discovered for the deposition of BA films and composites. Of particular interest are the unique gel‐forming properties of BAs/BSs, which provide a basis for the synthesis of nanoparticles of controlled size and fabrication of novel materials with advanced functionality.