Polymer-Assisted Composites of Trimetallic Nanoparticles with a Three-Layered Core-Shell Structure for Catalyses

Abstract

Metal nanoparticles, nanoscopic metal particles, or fine particles of metal in a nanometer size have received much attention recently because they have specific chemical and physical properties much different from those of bulk metal [1, 2]. They are expected to be useful in various ways such as catalysts [3–7], magnetic materials [8–11], semiconductors [12, 13], electro-optic materials [14, 15], drug delivery materials [16], and so on, and thus is attractive to many researchers. These metal nanoparticles are often surrounded by organic corona, which stabilizes the dispersion of nanoparticles and provide additional novel functions to the core nanoparticles. Polymers are useful materials as the organic corona because of their strong stabilizing function due to multidentate interaction. Thus, these metal nanoparticles are prepared and used as composites with organic materials like polymers, when they are applied to various fields.