Issue 6, 2020

Self-assembly of Janus Au:Fe3O4 branched nanoparticles. From organized clusters to stimuli-responsive nanogel suprastructures

Abstract

Janus nanoparticles offer enormous possibilities through a binary selective functionalization and dual properties. Their self-assembly has attracted strong interest due to their potential as building blocks to obtain molecular colloids, supracrystals and well-organized nanostructures that can lead to new functionalities. However, this self-assembly has been focused on relatively simple symmetrical morphologies, while for complex nanostructures this process has been unexplored. Here, we study the assembly of plasmonic-magnetic Janus nanoparticles with a branched (nanostar) – sphere morphology. The branched morphology enhances their plasmonic properties in the near-infrared region and therefore their applicability, but at the same time constrains their self-assembly capabilities to obtain more organized or functional suprastructures. We describe the self-assembly of these nanoparticles after amphiphilic functionalization. The role of the nanoparticle branching, as well as the size of the polymer-coating, is explored. We show how the use of large molecular weight stabilizing polymers can overcome the anisotropy of the nanoparticles producing a change in the morphology from small clusters to larger quasi-cylindrical nanostructures. Finally, the Janus nanoparticles are functionalized with a thermo-responsive elastin-like recombinamer. These nanoparticles undergo reversible self-assembly in the presence of free polymer giving rise to nanoparticle-stabilized nanogel-like structures with controlled size, providing the possibility to expand their applicability to multi-stimuli controlled self-assembly.

Graphical abstract: Self-assembly of Janus Au:Fe3O4 branched nanoparticles. From organized clusters to stimuli-responsive nanogel suprastructures

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
07 feb 2020
Accepted
21 apr 2020
First published
22 apr 2020
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Nanoscale Adv., 2020,2, 2525-2530

Self-assembly of Janus Au:Fe3O4 branched nanoparticles. From organized clusters to stimuli-responsive nanogel suprastructures

J. Reguera, T. Flora, N. Winckelmans, J. C. Rodríguez-Cabello and S. Bals, Nanoscale Adv., 2020, 2, 2525 DOI: 10.1039/D0NA00102C

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