Gold-nanoparticle-decorated glass microspheres

Abstract

Patterning of microspheres with well-dispersed metallic nanoparticles (NPs) is a challenging task owing to NPs' high agglomeration potential. Here, a simple, three-step method is presented to decorate glass beads with gold nanoparticles arranged in a quasi-hexagonal manner. Such nano-modified particulate materials can later on serve as catalysts or precursors, i.e., carriers of gold nanoparticles for fabrication of complex polymer composites. © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.