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. 2022 Dec 1;15(23):8557.
doi: 10.3390/ma15238557.

Hydrolyzed Polyacrylamide as an In Situ Assistant in the Nucleation and Growth of Gold Nanoparticles

Nery M Aguilar  1 , Jose Manuel Perez-Aguilar  2 , Valeria J González-Coronel  3 , Hugo Martínez-Gutiérrez  4 , Teresa Zayas Pérez  1 , Guillermo Soriano-Moro  1 , Brenda L Sanchez-Gaytan  1
Affiliations

Hydrolyzed Polyacrylamide as an In Situ Assistant in the Nucleation and Growth of Gold Nanoparticles

Nery M Aguilar et al. Materials (Basel). .

Abstract

The modulation of nanoparticles' size, shape, and dispersion by polymers has attracted particular attention in different fields. Nevertheless, there is a lack of information regarding the use of charged macromolecules as assistants in the nanostructures' nucleation and growth processes. Prompted by this, the in situ synthesis of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) aided by hydrolyzed polyacrylamides (HPAM), with different chemical structures, was developed. In contrast to the conventional synthesis of nanostructures assisted by polyacrylamide, here, the polymerization, hydrolysis, and nanostructure formation processes were carried out simultaneously in the same milieu. Likewise, the growing chains acted as a template for the nanoparticles' growth, so their conformations and chemical structure, especially the amount of charges along the chain, played an important role in the AuNPs' morphology, size, and some of the final composite features. The nanocomposite was thoroughly characterized with appropriate techniques, including ATR-FTIR, GPC, UV-Vis, and SEM.

Keywords: gold nanoparticles; hydrolyzed polyacrylamide; nanocomposites.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Representation of the reaction process stages. Stage 1: hydrolysis of some monomers. Oxidation of hydrolyzed monomers to CO2 and gold reduction. Initiation of polymerization followed by the propagation step. Stage 2: Growth of nanoparticles in the polymeric template (coil conformation at pH of 5 and 7, extended conformation at pH of 14). Stage 3: nanocomposite formation.
Figure 2
Figure 2
ATR–FTIR spectra comparison between nanocomposites prepared at different pHs: HPAM–Au5 (acidic), HPAM–Au7 (neutral), HPAM–Au14 (basic).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Molecular weight distribution by GPC of the HPAMs obtained at different pHs used to prepare the nanocomposites: HPAM-Au5 (acidic), HPAM-Au7 (neutral), HPAM-Au14 (basic).
Figure 4
Figure 4
UV–Vis spectra of nanocomposites in aqueous solution: HPAM-Au5 (acidic), HPAM-Au7 (neutral), HPAM-Au14 (basic).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Intensity distributions obtained by DLS of nanocomposites in aqueous solution: HPAM-Au5 (acidic), HPAM-Au7 (neutral), HPAM-Au14 (basic).
Figure 6
Figure 6
STEM micrographs of nanocomposites: HPAM-Au5 (a), HPAM-Au7 (b), HPAM-Au14 (c).
Figure 7
Figure 7
Viscosity variation as a function of the shear rate at 25 °C of nanocomposites in solution prepared at different pHs: HPAM-Au5 (acidic), HPAM-Au7 (neutral), HPAM-Au14 (basic).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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