Polymer-Initiated Photogeneration of Silver Nanoparticles in SPEEK/PVA Films:  Direct Metal Photopatterning

Abstract

Cross-linking of sulfonated poly(ether-ether)ketone-poly(vinyl alcohol) (SPEEK-PVA) materials yields flexible polymer films, possessing high light-sensitivity and ion-exchange capabilities. Adsorbed Ag+ ions are photoreduced in the film under illumination (lambda = 350 nm), leading to metal nanoparticle formation in places where the film has been exposed to the light. Nanoparticles form via reduction of Ag+ by the polymeric alcohol radicals, generated in the system as a result of photochemical H-abstraction from PVA molecules by the excited carbonyl triplet state of SPEEK. Use of the films for direct metal photopatterning is demonstrated.

X-ray induced reduction of Au and Pt ions on silicon substrates

“…Information related to the mechanism of the process and/or the fate of the reduced products (especially whether or not cluster formation or nucleation also take place) are needed. From this aspect XPS is particularly suitable since a significant chemical shift develops to correlate with the size of gold clusters [37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46]. Accordingly, we have recently reported an XPS investigation of HAuCl 4 deposited on SiO 2 /Si substrate and in PMMA matrix where we have demonstrated the formation of gold nanoclusters by X-ray induced reduction [47].…”

In-situ fabrication of polyacrylate–silver nanocomposite through photoinduced tandem reactions involving eosin dye

“…[15] For instance, coaxial nanocables [16] with a nanometric silver core and covered by a polymer shell exhibit superior performance as nanocircuits [8] or nanosenors. [7] Such nanowires can be synthesized by either solution-phase methods using capping reactants [17,18] or by templating methods using inorganic porous material, [19] polymer membranes, [20,21] or block copolymer. [22] Another type of nanocomposites consists in a dispersion of metal particles into a polymeric matrix such as poly(vinyl alcohol), [23,24] poly(methyl methacrylate) [25] or poly(vinyl pyrrole) for instance.…”

“…[24] Photochemical reduction by irradiating a dye sensitizer in the presence of silver ions also provides a convenient way to produce embedded nanoparticles in polymer. [21,[32][33][34][35] Moreover, a concomitant functionalization of the nanoparticles with dyes can occur, which is a valuable feature for applications in photochemical solar cells. [14,36] In all cases, the high-performance of nanomaterials depends on the controlled distribution of uniformly shaped and sized particles.…”

Synthesis and functionalities of noble metal nanoparticles formed through simple all-inorganic photochemical procedures

“…Such protocols yield low-cost procedures that cover a large field of applications, including (photo) catalysis, (photo) electrochemistry, optics, plasmonic or sensors [1][2][3]. These photochemical methods generally rely on rather complex chemical formulations involving organic or metal-organic additives used as reductive, capping and/or surfactant agents [4][5][6][7][8]. These additives play a key role in the fine control of the mean size, size distribution and stability of metal nanoparticles in liquid solutions.…”