Spontaneous formation of dye-functionalized gold nanoparticles using reverse micellar systems

Detailed exploratory and mechanistic investigations on spontaneous formation of dye-functionalized gold nanoparticles (GNPs) using dye-based reverse micellar systems are described in this publication. The accumulated results from spectroscopic and microscopic investigations demonstrated that water molecules confined within nanoscopic enclosure of the self-assembled reverse micelles played critical role in the redox processes of aurate ions to produce GNPs, which are assumed to have approximately constant size distributions. The resulting dye-functionalized GNPs were found to offer their absorption and fluorescence emission tunability by changing the medium polarity as well as to exhibit excellent film-forming properties to give optically homogeneous polystyrene thin films. These key findings in addition to broad applicability of the self-assembling process with a variety of dye analogues have led to a conclusion that the protocol presented here serves as a versatile synthetic method to provide a potential convenience for future development of new organic–inorganic hybrid nanomaterials.

Graphical abstractDetailed exploratory and mechanistic investigations on spontaneous formation of dye-functionalized gold nanoparticles using dye-based reverse micellar systems are described in this publication.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload high-quality image (96 K)Download as PowerPoint slideResearch highlights► Water molecules play a significant role for GNP formations. ► GNPs are assumed to have approximately constant size distributions. ► Photophysical property can be tuned by changing medium polarity. ► Dye-functionalized GNPs exhibit excellent film-forming properties. ► Synthetic protocol has broad applications for dye analogues.