A new method for the preparation of silica-polycarbazole composite particles of a core-shell morphology

Abstract

Spherical hybrid 149 ± 44 nm-sized silica-carbazole (Cbz) nanoparticles (H-SiO₂-g-Cbz_2% NPs) were prepared using the basic hydrolysis of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) and of a bifunctional N-carbazolyl-(3-(triethoxysilyl)propyl)butanamide silane in W/O micro-emulsion conditions. In a 2^nd step, surface-localized heterocyclic Cbz groups acted as nucleophilic attachment species towards a polyCOOH poly(dicarbazole-lysine) polymer adlayer generated oxidatively. This sequential process that used an intermediate “nucleophilic nanomaterial phase” resulted in spherical 454 ± 136 nm-sized composite particles possessing a core-shell morphology engineered by design.