Graphene oxide/ferrocene-containing polymer/gold nanoparticle triple nanocomposite

Abstract

A facile strategy to prepare GO-based nanocomposites with both gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and ferrocene (Fc) moieties was developed. The surface of GO was modified with PFcMAss homopolymer by surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization of a new methacrylate monomer of 2-((2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl)disulfanyl)ethyl ferrocene-carboxylate (FcMAss), consisting of disulfide as an anchoring group for stabilizing AuNPs and Fc group as an additional functionality. AuNPs with an average diameter of about 4.1 nm were formed in situ on the surface of PFcMAss-decorated GO (GO-PFcMAss) via Brust-Schiffrin method to give GO-PFcMAss-AuNPs multifunctional nanocomposites bearing GO, AuNPs and Fc groups. The obtained nanocomposites were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Since disulfide-containing polymers, rather than the commonly used thiol-containing compounds, were employed as ligands to stabilize AuNPs, much more stabilizing groups were attached onto the surface of GO, and thus more AuNPs were able to be introduced onto the surface of GO. Besides, polymeric chains on the surface of GO endowed GO-PFcMAss-AuNPs nanocomposites with excellent colloidal stability, and the usage of a disulfide group provides possibility to efficiently incorporate additional functionalities by easily modifying structure of disulfide-based monomer.