Synergies between polyacrylamide polymerization and nanoparticle generation using an atmospheric pressure plasma jet

We performed a free radical polymerization of acrylamide in an aqueous solution by a radio frequency-driven atmospheric pressure plasma jet. The polymerization was catalyzed by simultaneous generation of nanoparticles resulting in a percentage polymer yield increased by a factor of 2-30 times. Polyacrylamide acted as a capping agent for the silver nanoparticle formation yielding smaller nanoparticles while uncontrolled growth and massive particles were observed without acrylamide for the same conditions. Both Fourier transform infrared and Raman spectroscopy show the formation of bonds of (poly)acrylamide with the silver particles suggesting that polymerization at least in part occurs at the surface of silver particles. As plasma enables reduction without the addition of chemicals, this procedure might be a novel biocompatible approach to generate polyacrylamide/silver nanocomposite hydrogels.