Amphiphilic Block Copolymers for Nanomaterial Fabrication

Abstract

Recently, we found spontaneous formation of metal nanoparticles by simply mixing of metal salt solutions with poly(ethylene oxide)-poly(propylene oxide) (PEO-PPO) block copolymer solutions at ambient temperature in the absence of any other reducing agent. Namely, PEO-PPO block copolymers act in tandem as the reductants for metal ions and stabilizers for metal nanoparticles formed in solutions. This paper introduces the mechanism of metal ion reduction by PEO-PPO block copolymers in solutions, size/shape control of metal nanoparticles formed and one-pot synthesis of bimetallic nanomaterials using PEO-PPO block copolymers in solutions.