In situ fabrication of amino acid-polyoxometalate nanoparticle functionalized ultrathin films and relevant electrochemical property study

In this paper, amino acid-polyoxometalate (polyoxometalate = H3PMo12O40, H4SiW12O40, and H3PW12O40) nanoparticles functionalized ultrathin polyelectrolyte films were successfully fabricated via Layer-by-Layer (LbL) assembly technique. UV–vis absorption spectrometry was used to investigate the incorporation and reproducible growth process of the amino acid-polyoxometalate nanoparticles in the films. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to measure the composition of the ultrathin polyelectrolyte films. Transmission electron microscopy was employed to study the morphology and size of the nanoparticles in the films. Electrochemical study of the films shows that the excellent electrochemical property of the polyoxometalate remained.