Prev. Article Next Article Table of Contents

Article

Spontaneous Formation of Nanoparticle Vesicles from Homopolymer Polyelectrolytes

Jennifer N. Cha,*^†^§ Henrik Birkedal,^† Larken E. Euliss,^† Michael H. Bartl,^† Michael S. Wong,^† Timothy J. Deming,^†^‡ and Galen D. Stucky*^†^‡;

Contribution from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the Materials Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106

J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2003, 125 (27), pp 8285–8289

DOI: 10.1021/ja0279601

Publication Date (Web): June 13, 2003

In papers with more than one author, the asterisk indicates the name of the author to whom inquiries about the paper should be addressed.

†

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

Current address: Department of Chemistry, D83 Hildebrand Hall, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720.

Current address: Department of Chemical Engineering, Rice University, Houston, TX 77251-1892.

‡

Materials Department.

, j_cha@uclink.berkeley.edu, ; , stucky@chem.ucsb.edu

Abstract

Nanoparticle vesicles were spontaneously assembled from homopolymer polyamine polyelectrolytes and water-soluble, citrate-stabilized quantum dots. The further addition of silica nanoparticles to a solution of quantum dot vesicles generated stable micrometer-sized hollow spheres whose walls were formed of a thick, inner layer of close-packed quantum dots followed by an outer layer of silica. The method employed here to assemble both the nanoparticle vesicles and the hollow spheres is in direct contrast to previous syntheses that use either tailored block copolymers or oil-in-water emulsion templating. We propose that the formation of charge-stabilized hydrogen bonds between the positively charged amines of the homopolymer polyelectrolytes and the negatively charged citrate molecules stabilizing the quantum dots is responsible for the macroscopic phase separation in this completely aqueous system. The ease and processibility of the present approach gives promise for the production of a diverse array of materials ranging in applications from drug delivery to catalysis to micrometer-scale optical devices.

View: Full Text HTML | Hi-Res PDF