Straight ultrathin Au nanowires (NWs) with diameters less than 2 nm were synthesized using the lamellar structure of C18AA in an organogel and its selective adsorption for specific gold surfaces. In addition, the potential to form a bilayer structure with interdigitated hydrocarbon chains enabled the production of water-dispersible Au NWs without morphological change.
A series of long-chain amidoamine derivatives with different alkyl chain lengths (CnAA where n is 12, 14, 16, or 18) were synthesized and studied with regard to their ability to form organogels and to act as soft templates for the production of Au nanomaterials. These compounds were found to self-assemble into lamellar structures and exhibited gelation ability in some apolar solvents. The gelation concentration, gel-sol phase transition temperature, and lattice spacing of the lamellar structures in organic solvent all varied on the basis of the alkyl chain length of the particular CnAA compound employed. The potential for these molecules to function as templates was evaluated through the synthesis of Au nanowires (NWs) in their organogels. Ultrathin Au NWs were obtained from all CnAA/toluene gel systems, each within an optimal temperature range. Interestingly, in the case of C12AA and C14AA, it was possible to fabricate ultrathin Au NWs at room temperature. In addition, two-dimensional parallel arrays of ultrathin Au NWs were self-assembled onto TEM copper grids as a result of the drying of dispersion solutions of these NWs. The use of CnAA compounds with differing alkyl chain lengths enabled precise tuning of the distance between the Au NWs in these arrays.
This article describes the preparation and catalytic property of Pd and Pd-Ni nanowires with network structure. A soft template with network structure formed by long-chain amidoamine derivative (C18AA) was essential to preparing Pd and Pd-Ni nanowires because of the preparation of only spherical nanoparticles using octadecylamine, which does not form a network structure as a soft template, instead of C18AA. Furthermore, this soft-template method demands a slow reduction rate for the metal ion, the same as the general preparation method for novel metal nanowires. The distinguishing features of the present method is that the nanowires are a few nanometers in diameter and there are no byproducts such as nanoparticles. In addition, the bimetallic Pd-Ni nanowires show very high catalytic activity for the hydrogenation of p-nitrophenol as compared to Pd nanowires, Pd nanoparticles, and Pd-Ni nanoparticles.
A heat-induced viscosity transition of novel worm-like micelles of a long alkyl-chain amidoamine derivative (C18AA) bearing intermolecular hydrogen-bonding group was investigated by cryo-TEM, FT-IR, and rheological measurements. At lower temperature, C18AA forms straight elongated micelles with a length on the order of micrometers due to strong intermolecular hydrogen-bonded packing of the amide groups, although the micelles rarely entangle and have low value of zero-shear viscosity. The straight elongated micelles likely became flexible and underwent a morphological transition from straight structure to worm-like structure at a certain temperature, which caused a drastic increase in viscosity due to entanglement of the micelles. This morphological transition was caused by a defect of intermolecular hydrogen bonding between the amide groups on heating. Furthermore, addition of LiCl, which acts as hydrogen-bond breaker, also promoted the viscosity transition, leading to a lowering of the transition temperature.
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