Abstract
Metal-ceramic composite particles are of increasing interest due to their potential applications in photonic metamaterials as well as next-generation catalysts. The zirconia-gold system has received little attention due to the lack of controllable preparation methods. Well-known methods for the deposition of gold nanoshells on silica spheres, however, should be adaptable for similar zirconia-based materials. Here, we present a novel synthetic approach to the well-controlled deposition of gold on the surface of sol-gel derived zirconia mesoparticles by a stepwise method involving the immobilization of gold nanoparticles and repeated seeded-growth steps. We show that the immobilization efficiency is strongly enhanced by acidification with hydrochloric acid and additional employment of aminomethylphosphonic acid as coupling agent. The optimum conditions are identified and the subsequent incremental growth by seeded reduction of gold is demonstrated. The results shed light on the parameters governing the preparation of zirconia@gold composite particles and our synthetic approach provides a promising tool for future developments in complex nanomaterials design.
Highlights
Metal-ceramic composite materials have attracted significant interest among different scientific communities during the past years
In order to study the effect of acidification and the use of aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) as coupling agent on the immobilization of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) on the surface of zirconia mesoparticles, a systematic series of experiments was conducted, as summarized in Table S1 in the Supplementary Materials
The results presented in this work demonstrate effective immobilization of GNPs and well-controllable deposition of gold on spherical zirconia particles
Summary
Metal-ceramic composite materials have attracted significant interest among different scientific communities during the past years. When designed with precise geometries, they show exceptional tunable optical properties as reported, e.g., for gold nanoshells and patchy particles [1,2]. As a consequence, their potential use in advanced functional materials is discussed in view of various applications, e.g., biosensing, surface-enhanced spectroscopy, and thermophotovoltaics [3,4]. The ceramic component often acts as support material as it can be prepared with high specific surface area and since it provides stabilization of the active nanoparticular metal by permanent immobilization [5]. Zirconia as a support material is promising due to its high thermal stability and chemical inertness [7,8]. While most materials in this context are prepared by simple techniques, e.g., co-precipitation [6,10,11]
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