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Updated: Mar 13, 2026
Synthesis and Catalytic Performance of Gold Intercalated in the Walls of Mesoporous Silica
Published on: July 9, 2015
Analyte-responsive gated hollow mesoporous silica nanoparticles exhibiting inverse functionality and an AND logic
Tania M Guardado-Alvarez1, Wei Chen1, Amie E Norton2
1Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and California NanoSystems Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095-1569, USA. zink@chem.ucla.edu.
Abstract:
A multifunctional nanoparticle with designed selectivity was made using hollow mesoporous silica, ship-in-a-bottle synthesis of a crystalline solid-state detector, and protection of the crystal by acid-responsive nanogates. The system demonstrates the inverse application of the usual trapping of contents by the gate followed by their release. Instead, the gate protects the contents followed by selective exposure. Crystallization of [Pt(tpy)Cl](PF6) (tpy = 2,2':6',2''-terpyridine) inside the cavity of hollow mesoporous silica created the unique core/shell nanoparticle. The crystalline core becomes fluorescent in the presence of perchlorate. By condensing an acid-sensitive gate onto the particle, access to the pores is blocked and the crystal is protected. The new nanomaterial obeys Boolean AND logic; only the presence of both the analyte (ClO4-) and acid results in the optical response.
