Elaboration and characterization of bimetallic gold–silver nanoparticles supported on mesostructured silica films

Abstract

Silver–gold nanoparticles are grown inside mesostructured silica films obtained from block copolymers, using two successive steps: the first one involves silver nanoparticle growth. The second step consists of the replacement of the silver with gold. Using two commercial block copolymers, containing polyethylene oxide and polypropylene oxide blocks, mesostructured silica films are suitable “soft” templates for elaborating either spherical gold nanoparticles or nanorods array. Then, a third step involving soft silver reduction allows the preparation of core–shell gold–silver nanostructures. Grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS) and Anomalous GISAXS (AGISAXS) analysis are performed using synchrotron radiation on a bimetallic nanoparticles-containing film.