ИСТИНА

We discuss preparation of the hybrid composites, in which the microphase-separated diblock copolymer polystyrene – poly(2-vinyl pyridine) or polystyrene – poly(4-vinyl pyridine) simultaneously plays the role of a stabilizer that prevents the aggregation of Au nanoparticles and of a matrix providing their selective arrangement in the domains of a given type. The proposed approach does not involve additional stabilizers being effective for both organophilic Au nanospheres and initially hydrophilic Au nanorods. Diblock copolymer chains are introduced into the shell of nanoparticles via the ligand exchange with a labile stabilizer used for their synthesis. The method enables the preparation of stable sols of Au nanorods (Fig. 1) or nanospheres with sizes of up to tens of nanometers in various organic solvents like CH2Cl2, CHCl3, benzene, toluene, and THF [1]. Thin films of Au nanospheres or nanorods in the diblock copolymer matrices are made by spin casting followed by solvent vapor annealing. The content of Au nanoparticles in the composites is up to 5% by weight, they are dispersed and located mainly within the vertical or horizontal cylindrical domains of vinyl pyridine (Fig. 2), while the nanospheres are localized near the domain walls and the nanorods are generally oriented perpendicularly to the cylinder axis [2]. These data are discussed regarding the results of the recent simulations by dissipative particle dynamics [3]. It appears that the diblock copolymer stabilizers are the most effective compared with thiol-terminated polystyrene, thiol-terminated poly(2-vinyl pyridine), and decanethiol [4]. Thus, stable polymer-based composites with Au nanospheres or nanorods can be prepared without the use of strong thiol and amine surfactants. [1] Y.I. Derikov, G.A. Shandryuk, R.V. Talroze, A.A. Ezhov and Y.V. Kudryavtsev, Beilstein J. Nanotechnol., 2018, 9, 616. [2] Y.I. Derikov, C. Abetz, G.A. Shandryuk, R.V. Talroze, A.A. Ezhov, V. Abetz, Y.V. Kudryavtsev and M.A. Osipov, Polym. Sci., Ser. C, 2018, 60, in press. [3] A.V. Berezkin, Y.V. Kudryavtsev, M.V. Gorkunov and M.A. Osipov, J. Chem. Phys., 2017, 146, 144902. [4] Y.I. Derikov, C. Abetz, O.N. Karpov, G.A. Shandryuk, A.A. Ezhov, Y.V. Kudryavtsev and V. Abetz, Polym. Sci., Ser. C, 2018, 60, in press.