Liwei Dai

Light-triggered reversible self-assembly of gold nanoparticle oligomers for tunable SERS.

A photoresponsive amphiphilic gold nanoparticle (AuNP) is achieved through the decoration of AuNP with hydrophilic poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and hydrophobic photoresponsive polymethacrylate containing spiropyran units (PSPMA). Owing to the photoresponsive property of spiropyran units, the amphiphilic AuNPs can easily achieve the controllable assembly/disassembly behaviors under the trigger by light. Under visible light, spiropyran units provide weak intermolecular interactions between neighbored AuNPs, leading to isolated AuNPs in the solution. While under UV light irradiation, spiropyran units in the polymer brushes transform into merocyanine isomer with conjugated structure and zwitterionic state, promoting the integration of adjacent AuNPs through π-π stacking and electrostatic attractions, further leading to the formation of Au oligomers. The smart reversible AuNP oligomers exhibited switchable plasmonic coupling for tuning surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) activity, which is promising for the application of SERS based sensors and optical imaging.

Functionalization of Biodegradable PLA Nonwoven Fabric as Superoleophilic and Superhydrophobic Material for Efficient Oil Absorption and Oil/Water Separation

Although the construction of superwettability materials for oil/water separation has been developed rapidly, the postprocess of the used separation materials themselves is still a thorny problem due to their nondegradation in the natural environment. In this work, we reported the functionalization of polylactic acid (PLA) nonwoven fabric as superoleophilic and superhydrophobic material for efficient treatment of oily wastewater with eco-friendly post-treatment due to the well-known biodegradable nature of PLA matrix.

Hollow Au-Ag Nanoparticles Labeled Immunochromatography Strip for Highly Sensitive Detection of Clenbuterol

The probe materials play a significant role in improving the detection efficiency and sensitivity of lateral-flow immunochromatographic test strip (ICTS). Unlike conventional ICTS assay usually uses single-component, solid gold nanoparticles as labeled probes, in our present study, a bimetallic, hollow Au-Ag nanoparticles (NPs) labeled ICTS was successfully developed for the detection of clenbuterol (CLE). The hollow Au-Ag NPs with different Au/Ag mole ratio and tunable size were synthesized by varying the volume ratio of [HAuCl4]:[Ag NPs] via the galvanic replacement reaction. The surface of hollow Ag-Au NPs was functionalized with 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid (MUA) for further covalently bonded with anti-CLE monoclonal antibody. Overall size of the Au-Ag NPs, size of the holes within individual NPs and also Au/Ag mole ratio have been systematically optimized to amplify both the visual inspection signals and the quantitative data. The sensitivity of optimized hollow Au-Ag NPs probes has been achieved even as low as 2 ppb in a short time (within 15 min), which is superior over the detection performance of conventional test strip using Au NPs. The optimized hollow Au-Ag NPs labeled test strip can be used as an ideal candidate for the rapid screening of CLE in food samples.

Spatially-controlled growth of platinum on gold nanorods with tailoring plasmonic and catalytic properties

We describe the synthesis of bimetallic dendritic platinum decorated gold nanorods (AuNRs) by the spatial control of Pt growth over gold nanorods using a heterogeneous seed-mediated growth method. The amounts of the Au seed and Pt-precursor were changed to achieve a tunable volume fraction of Pt coverage on the Au NRs surface. Pt nanostructures were spatially separated from each other, which was highly favorable for promising optical and catalytic properties. The dendritic-Pt decorated AuNRs with variable Au/Pt ratios were exploited to study their surface plasmonic properties and catalytic activities. Interestingly, the Pt decorated AuNRs showed strong surface plasmon resonance (SPR) peak due to noncompact dendritic Pt shell in contrast to the conventional core–shell Au@Pt nanoparticles (NPs). Moreover, the longitudinal peak of the AuNRs was finely tuned from 820 to 950 nm (NIR region) by controlling the volume fraction of the Pt decoration over the AuNRs. The catalytic activity of the dendritic-Pt decorated AuNRs on the reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) by sodium borohydride (NaBH4) as reducing agent was studied and found to be superior to the activities compared to the monometallic Au NRs. Considering practical applications, dendritic-Pt decorated AuNRs nanostructures were immobilized successfully on the hydrophilic polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) film as an efficient reusable catalyst.

Engineering Gold Nanoparticles in Compass Shape with Broadly Tunable Plasmon Resonances and High-Performance SERS.

We present the uniform and high-yield synthesis of a novel gold nanostructure of compass shape composed of a Au sphere at the central and two gradually thinning conical tips at the opposed poles. The Au compass shapes were synthesized through a seed-mediated growth approach employing a binary mixture of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and sodium oleate (NaOL) as the structure-directing agents. Under the condition of single surfactant (CTAB), the spherical seeds tend to grow into larger spherical Au nanoparticles (NPs); while the spherical seeds favor the formation of Au compass shaped NPs using two mixed surfactants (CTAB/NaOL). The reaction kinetics clearly shows a growth mechanism of Au compass shaped NPs. Interestingly, due to their anisotropic structure, Au compass shaped NPs show two distinctive plasmonic resonances, similar to those from Au nanorods. Particularly, the longitudinal surface plasmon resonances of Au compass shaped NPs exhibit a broadly tunable range from 600 to 865 nm. In addition, the obtained Au compass shaped NPs can be self-assembled into a two-dimensional monolayer with closely packed and highly aligned NPs, which results in periodic arrays of overlapped Au tips, generating hot spots for high-performance surface-enhanced Raman scattering.

Close-packed assemblies of discrete tiny silver nanoparticles on triangular gold nanoplates as a high performance SERS probe

Bimetallic nanocatalysts often display enhanced physical and chemical properties compared to those of their monometallic counterparts. Herein, we introduce a simple method to fabricate an island like array of tiny Ag nanoparticles bounded on triangular Au nanoplates as the surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate. The surface morphology of the synthesized nanoparticles was characterized via field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Rhodamine 6G (R6G) is used as a model analyte to evaluate the performance of the tiny Ag nanoparticle bounded triangular Au nanoplates as a SERS-active substrate and validate the SERS effect. The fabricated SERS substrate showed drastically enhanced intensity with a SERS enhancement factor as high as 107, which is enough to detect a single molecule, and excellent reproducibility (less than ±5%) of the signal intensity. This is because of the island-like tiny Ag nanoparticle bounded triangular Au nanoplates and their large number of “hot spots”. This substrate could also be used for label-free immunoassays, biosensing, and nanoscale optical antennas and light sources.

Giant Vesicles with Anchored Tiny Gold Nanowires: Fabrication and Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering

Sensitivity and reproducibility are two major concerns to improve the performance and extend the range of practical applications of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). A theoretical report reveals that hot spots formed by gold nanoparticles with a tip-to-tip configuration would generate the maximum electric field enhancement because of the lightning rod effect. In our present study, we constructed a giant vesicle consisting of anchored tiny gold nanowires to provide a high density of sharp tip-to-tip nanogaps for SERS application. The tiny gold nanowires were directly grown and anchored onto the surfaces of polystyrene (PS) microspheres by a seed-mediated method. Then, the removal of PS microspheres by tetrahydrofuran led to the formation of the giant gold vesicles with hierarchical cage structures, providing the sharp tips and high density of hot spots for improving SERS performance. Compared with the nonwire structure (island and inhibited nanoparticle), giant gold vesicles with tiny wires showed a higher SERS enhancement factor (9.90 × 107) and quantitative SERS analysis in the range of 10-4 to 10-7 M. In addition, the large-scale giant gold vesicle array on the silica substrate resulted in a high reproducibility of SERS signals with the variation of intensities less than 7.6%.

Tris base assisted synthesis of monodispersed citrate-capped gold nanospheres with tunable size

We demonstrate a simple and effective method to obtain highly pure and monodispersed spherical gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) with a narrow size distribution (RSD ∼ 4–7%) in aqueous medium. The synthetic strategy involves the addition of HAuCl4 in preheated sodium citrate (SC) solution followed by addition of tris base (TB) which simultaneously acts as stabilizer, mild reducing agent and pH-mediator. A significant improvement in the uniformity and size tenability of the Au nanospheres has been observed by using subtle amounts of TB in contrast to the conventional way of using only SC. It is their synergistic effect that controls the amount of nuclei by heating SC, and then controlling the rate of nucleation and growth by introducing TB, which successfully produced particles with uniform morphology. Notably, HAuCl4 solution was added in multiple steps to significantly improve the quality of the NPs in comparison to the addition of whole HAuCl4 solution at one time. In this way, we have successfully developed spherical NPs with sizes ranging from 20 to 115 nm, which efficiently improve the classical Turkevich/Frens method with respect to the reproducibility and uniformity of the NPs size and shape. A representative set of NPs was controlled to spontaneously self-assemble into a monolayer assembly at a hexane/water interface. This will allow them to be used as a promising and outstanding candidate for application in the field of spectroscopy, catalysis, optoelectronic nanodevices and biosensors.