Preparation of pH-responsive silver nanoparticles by RAFT polymerization

Silver nanoparticles were prepared by chemical reduction of AgNO3 in the presence of the PDMAEMA-b- PPA, which was synthesized by the reversible additionfragmentation transfer technique. The formation of the silver nanoparticles was determined by the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images and UV–Vis absorption spectra. The average size of the silver nanoparticles was shown to 11.4 nm. Particularly, the pH-responsive property of the silver nanoparticle was further observed. It was characterized by the zate potential, the UV–Vis spectra, and TEM images. The results show that the pHresponsive property is attributed to the aggregate of the silver nanoparticles as a function of pH. The characteristic is expected to apply in the nanoscale optical biosensor and biomaterials