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Published on: November 21, 2013
Synthesis of organo-silane functionalized nanocrystal micelles and their self-assembly
Hongyou Fan1, Zhu Chen, C Jeffrey Brinker
1Advanced Materials Laboratory, Chemical Synthesis and Nanomaterials Department, Sandia National Laboratories, 1001 University Boulevard, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87106, USA. hfan@sandia.gov
Abstract:
We report a general method to synthesize gold nanocrystal micelles with organo-silane headgroups. The method involves encapsulation of monodisperse, hydrophobic gold nanocrystals within the core of a micelle of an amphiphilic silane precursor. Formation and stability of monodisperse gold NC micelles have been confirmed using UV-visible spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Self-assembly of such nanocrystal micelles through siloxane hydrolysis and cross-linking leads to an ordered array with a face-centered-cubic mesostructure.

