Abstract
In this work, we report the preparation of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and the nanodecoration of α-cyclodextrin inclusion compounds (α-CD IC) microcrystals that contain palmitic (PAc) and stearic acids (SAc) like guest molecules. These IC provide a suitable environment for nucleation, epitaxial growth and immobilization of AgNPs that were obtained by the magnetron sputtering technique. The use of α-CD IC substrates with a specific surface morphology in which the functional group of the guest molecule faces outward preferentially from a crystal plane, is an efficient method for the preparation of AgNPs with a low size dispersion, which is probably due to the high affinity between the functional group of the surfactant carboxylic acid guest with the metal nanoparticles.
Highlights
Decoration of organic crystals with metal nanoparticles is a new area of research and is attracting interest because the specific surface functionalization could have potential applications, for example in the manufacture of devices, due to the interesting combination of properties of metal nanoparticles and organic crystals having crystal planes with a modified surface [1]
We report the selective nanodecoration of α-cyclodextrin inclusion compounds (α-CD IC) (i.e., α-CD with hexadecanoic or palmitic acid (α-CD/PAc) and α-CD with octadecanoic or stearic acid (α-CD/stearic acids (SAc))) along the {001} crystal plane with AgNPs using the magnetron sputtering technique
The self-assembly of AgNPs onto the preferred face of α-CD/carboxylic acid IC microcrystals by the magnetron sputtering technique was used as a new method for for nucleation and epitaxial growth of these nanoparticles on the surface of compounds including carboxylic acids containing as guest molecules
Summary
Decoration of organic crystals with metal nanoparticles is a new area of research and is attracting interest because the specific surface functionalization could have potential applications, for example in the manufacture of devices, due to the interesting combination of properties of metal nanoparticles and organic crystals having crystal planes with a modified surface [1]. The AgNPs have important physical and chemical properties, among which are highlighted their interesting optical properties that make them useful in techniques such as: Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) [2], in the manufacture of solar cells [3], biosensors [4] and even antibacterial properties which makes them excellent candidates to develop biomedical technologies [5] These nanoparticles can adhere selectively to a specific crystal plane of α-CD IC [6,7], which are excellent candidates to become part of these organic-inorganic materials due to their unique properties of interface. The IC crystals are anisotropic polyhedra, and the crystal faces provide interfaces with different chemical properties due to the symmetric
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