Heterodimers of Nanoparticles:  Formation at a Liquid−Liquid Interface and Particle-Specific Surface Modification by Functional Molecules

Abstract

On the basis of a fundamental property of nanoparticles, the self-assembling at a liquid-liquid interface to form "colloidosomes", a heterogeneous reaction takes place on the exposed surface of the nanoparticles to produce the heterodimers of two distinct nanospheres, which can be modified by two different functional molecules in a particle-specific manner.

Hierarchical synthesis of non-centrosymmetric hybrid nanostructures and enabled plasmon-driven photocatalysis

“…However, all these epitaxy-based syntheses have limitation of material choice and cannot likely be scaled up for complex higher-order nc-HNs with multiple subunits and different structural arrangement 15,20 . Indeed, most studies of nc-HNs so far are mainly restricted to the simplest heterodimeric structures involving two subunits with constrained material choice, thus limiting their applications [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] . Under this context, a more general strategy that can allow to achieve complex high-order nc-HNs with adaptable combination and precise control of functional subunits is needed and should be the key for optimizing their property and related device performance.…”

The cell labeling efficacy, cytotoxicity and relaxivity of copper-activated MRI/PET imaging contrast agents

“…Excess of the surface modifying ligands were removed from the isolated nanoparticles by repeated dialysis. dl-DOPA is a derivative of phenylalanine and abundantly present in the mussel adhesive protein Mytilus edulis, [41] and considered to have high affinity binding group to stabilize iron oxide nanoparticles in water [42] and physiologic buffers via M-O (M = Fe, Mn) bonding [43], [44], [45] and [46]. In addition dl-DOPA can provide the opportunity of conjugating DOTA on the surface of the nanoparticles through amide bond formation.…”

Colloidal Magnetic Heterostructured Nanocrystals with Asymmetric Topologies: Seeded-Growth Synthetic Routes and Formation Mechanisms

“…Examples of MHNCs derived by this strategy are shown in Figures 4B-G. In the reported procedure, an aqueous solution containing a Au(III) or Ag(I) salt was put in contact with an immiscible organic phase that contained surfactant-capped Fe x O y or FePt seeds dissolved in a non-polar solvent, such as dichlorobenzene, dichloromethane, hexane, or DOE (Gu et al, 2005;Pan et al, 2010). Upon ultrasound irradiation under inert atmosphere, an emulsion formed, which consisted of a continuous aqueous phase containing "colloidosomes, " organic microdroplets stabilized by the hydrophobic-capped seed NCs that had self-assembled at the organic/water interfaces (Dinsmore et al, 2002).…”

“…Upon ultrasound irradiation under inert atmosphere, an emulsion formed, which consisted of a continuous aqueous phase containing "colloidosomes, " organic microdroplets stabilized by the hydrophobic-capped seed NCs that had self-assembled at the organic/water interfaces (Dinsmore et al, 2002). Under these conditions, the seeds provided catalytically active sites onto which the Ag + or AuCl − 4 ions were reduced to the respective metals during the ultrasonication (Gu et al, 2005). As the seeds were only partially exposed to the aqueous phase, metal deposition was spatially restricted to a small region of their surface and proceeded self-catalytically, thus allowing the formation of only one metal domain on each seed (Figures 4B-E).…”