Incorporation of metal nanoparticles into H3PMo12O40 hybrid Langmuir–Blodgett film through in-situ reduction

To prepare metal nanoparticles in organic–inorganic hybrid thin film, we investigated the incorporation of metal nanoparticles into dioctadecylamine (DOA)/12-molybdophosphoric acid (PMo12) hybrid Langmuir–Blodgett (LB) film through in-situ reduction of PMo12 in two routes. The growth of metal nanoparticles was characterized by UV–vis spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). And the packing structures of the hybrid film before and after the formation of metal nanoparticles were identified by X-ray diffraction (XRD). We further investigated the synergistic effects between the formed metal nanoparticles and PMo12 in the ultrathin film. An interesting phenomenon was found for the metal nanoparticles incorporated film: a large surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) of PMo12 could be observed for the hybrid LB film after the in-situ formation of Ag nanoparticles; in addition, the formation of Au nanoparticles can improve the ability of the photochromism of the hybrid LB film.