Effective oxidation protection of polymer micelles for copper nanoparticles in water

Abstract

Copper nanoparticles are often susceptible to rapid oxidation in water. We report a water-dispersible and long-term stable copper nanoparticle protected by a block copolymer micelle that can effectively inhibit the access of oxygen to the copper inside its hydrophobic core, providing a sufficient diffusion barrier against oxidation in water.

Comparative Synthesis of Cu and Cu2O Nanoparticles from Different Copper Precursors in an Ionic Liquid or Propylene Carbonate

“…Therefore, Cu-NPs must be synthesized under inert atmosphere and mostly together with a stabilizing agent, such as polyvinylpyrrolidone [30][31][32][33] or cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, [34,35] to give a protective layer around the NPs to prevent oxidation. However, the use of a capping ligand [36] or polymer micelles [37,38] to stabilize the NPs will decrease their activity in catalysis.…”

Facile synthesis of air-stable nano/submicro dendritic copper structures and their anti-oxidation properties

“…Preparation of copper nano/submicro structures by dealloying attracts lots of attentions due to its widely applications in the electronic devices and sensors, [14][15][16][17] but suffers from the spontaneous oxidation during the synthesis process, posttreatments and storage in atmosphere. [18][19][20] In present work, through introducing proper amount of oxygen into Cu-Mn alloy, dendritic copper structures (DCSs) in nano/submicro scale with different morphologies were successfully prepared by simple chemical dealloying of Cu-Mn-O alloy in hydrochloric acid solution. The morphology evolution and the antioxidation properties of the DCSs were investigated.…”

Autoxidation-Resistant, ROS-Scavenging, and Anti-Inflammatory Micellar Nanoparticles Self-Assembled from Poly(acrylic acid)–Green Tea Catechin Conjugates

“…PAA−EGCG-1 was more resistant to autoxidation than PAA−EGCG-2 and -3 (Figure S5), suggesting that the compact micellar structure of PAA− EGCG-1 was beneficial for stabilizing EGCG moieties. 28 We also examined the stability of the PAA−EGCG nanoparticles in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS, pH 7.4) and normal saline (pH 5.5) at 37 °C by measuring their derived count rates. 29 As shown in Figure S6, the derived count rates in PBS (pH 7.4) were decreased more quickly than those in normal saline (pH 5.5), suggesting that the disintegration of PAA−EGCG nanoparticles were accelerated in alkaline conditions via an autoxidation process.…”