Abstract
Herein, we report the synthesis of spherical gold nanoparticles with tunable core size (23–79 nm) in the presence of polyethylene glycol‐g‐polyvinyl alcohol (PEG‐g‐PVA) grafted copolymer as a reducing, capping, and stabilizing agent in a one‐step protocol. The resulted PEG‐g‐PVA‐capped gold nanoparticles are monodispersed with an exceptional colloidal stability against salt addition, repeated centrifugation, and extensive dialysis. The effect of various synthesis parameters and the kinetic/mechanism of the nanoparticle formation are discussed.
Highlights
Due to their unique optical properties, gold nanoparticles (GNPs) enable promising applications such as imaging, sensing, photothermal ablation of cancer, and drug delivery [1,2,3]
The aim of this work is to evaluate to feasibility of using polyethylene glycol-g-polyvinyl alcohol (PEG-g-PVA) grafted copolymer as a reducing, capping, and stabilizing agent in a one-step synthesis of GNPs
Since our protocol employs the use of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-g-PVA in absence of any other common reducing agents such as hydrides or citrate, we attribute the reduction of gold salt to the presence of the polymer itself as a reducing agent
Summary
Due to their unique optical properties, gold nanoparticles (GNPs) enable promising applications such as imaging, sensing, photothermal ablation of cancer, and drug delivery [1,2,3]. Citrate ions reduce gold and act as capping agents (physical adsorption) to stabilize the resulting gold colloid (12–50 nm) by electrical repulsion forces [6] Stronger reducing agent such as sodium borohydride is used to prepare smaller nanoparticles (2–10 nm) with physically adsorbed boron species on the surface of GNPs [7]. Postsynthesis surface modification with small stabilizing molecules (e.g., thiolated molecules, amino acids, or proteins) or polymers (e.g., polyvinyl alcohol, polyethylene glycol, and polyelectrolyte) is essential to avoid aggregation and improves colloidal stability [8] With this in mind, preparing highly stable and tunable GNPs in a one-step synthesis without the need for postsynthesis modification is a clear need. PEG-g-PVA was developed by pharmaceutical companies to substitute PVA, which require
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