A convenient phase transfer route for Ag nanoparticles

Generally, phase transfer of metal nanoparticles between aqueous phase and organic phase need two reagents at last. One is stabilizer of nanoparticles, the other is phase-transfer agent (Chem. Lett. 21 (1992) 1527; J. Colloid Interface Sci. 161 (1993) 471; J. Phys. Chem B 101 (1997) 9876; Chem. Commun. (1997) 537; Langmuir 14 (1998) 602; J. Phys. Chem B 103 (1999) 7238; Chem. Mater. 13 (2001) 4692; Langmuir 17 (2001) 733; Langmuir 16 (2000) 9775; Langmuir 18 (2002) 3364; J. Am. Chem. Soc. 123 (2001) 11148). In this paper, Ag nanoparticle prepared by tannic acid reduction of AgNO3 in aqueous medium were transferred to chloroform solution via a remarkably simple one-step route under the effect of phase-transfer inducer dimethyldioctadecylammonium chloride (DDAC), where no special stabilizer was required. Monolayer of Ag nanoparticles is obtained on carbon film by self-assembly using chloroform organosol. The effect of the inducer DDAC concentration is checked, and it was found that View the MathML source of DDAC was the optimum concentration for phase transfer of Ag nanoparticles. The organosol, Ag nanoparticle self-assembled monolayer and phase transfer were characterized by UV-vis spectra, TEM, ED and TF-IR.