Design Strategies for the Fabrication of Tailored Nanocomposites via RAFT Polymerization

The formation of nanocomposites from gold nanoparticles and RAFT polymers has been investigated in detail. The binding mode of linear multifunctional RAFT polymers on the surface of two different types of nanoparticles was examined. For gold nanoparticles from citrate-reduction, multidentate binding of this type of polymer was observed, resulting in polymer loops on the nanoparticle surface. In contrast, smaller nanoparticles prepared using the two-phase Brust-Schiffrin method were shown to form cross-linked particle networks when treated with multifunctional RAFT polymers. The particle density in these superstructures was correlated with the degree of polymerization of the cross-linking macromolecules. In addition, the power of RAFT star polymers with external functional groups in the tailored assembly of gold nanoparticles was demonstrated by the controlled formation of planet-satellite nanostructures comprising both mentioned types of gold nanoparticles.