Fabrication of Janus particles via a “photografting-from” method and gold photoreduction

Abstract

Faster and simpler methods for the fabrication of Janus particles are of tremendous importance for a real implementation of these particles. By combining thiol-modified silica particles (SMPs) with the use of UV light, it is possible to rapidly fabricate Janus particles coated with polymer brushes and gold nanoparticles via photochemical emulsion-assisted route. From the silica particle surface, polymeric brushes of polyethylene(glycol), PEG, were grafted via a photografting-from method on one hemisphere by using the thiol groups as photoinitiator of the polymerization. The other hemisphere was coated with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) generated in situ via photoreduction of chloroauric acid promoted by Norrish type I photoinitiator. PEG/AuNPs@SMPs coated with Au nanoparticles with average diameter of 12.7 or 22.5 nm were obtained by playing on the mass ratio between thiol-modified silica particles and gold precursor. The Janus PEG/AuNPs@SMPs were fully characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and UV–Vis spectroscopy. This strategy merges the advantages of emulsion-based selective masking and UV-induced reactions, and it is proved to be a feasible and fast route (reactions are completed in dozens of minutes) for Janus particles fabrication.