Photo-induced formation and self-assembling of gold nanoparticles in aqueous solution of amphiphilic dendrimerswith oligo(p-phenylene vinylene) core branches and oligo(ethylene oxide) terminal chains

Abstract

Dendritic molecules with oligo(p-phenylenevinylene) core branches and oligo(ethylene oxide) terminal chains werefound to be highly susceptible to the singlet oxygen mediated photooxidationprocess. These photosensitive amphiphilic dendrimers were used as boththe photo-reducing agent and particle stabilizer for the formation of goldnanoparticles in an aqueous solution of hydrogen tetrachloroaurate (III) hydrate(HAuCl4·3H2O) atambient atmosphere. Gold nanoparticles produced at high molar ratios of the amphiphilic dendrimerto HAuCl4 (>0.5) were demonstrated to be stable for several months, whereas relatively largehexagonal/triangular gold single-crystal films and self-assembled hollow fiberclusters were observed at lower molar ratios of the amphiphilic dendrimer toHAuCl4.