Fabrication of water soluble chains using divalent metal nanoparticles

PMSE 141

Oktay Uzun, oktay@mit.edu and Francesco Stellacci, frstella@mit.edu. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Mass Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139
Nanostructured materials reveal unique electronic and optical properties that are related to their size and shape. They can simultaneously provide scaffolds for devices and serve as building blocks for the creation of two- and three-dimensional systems. The existing methodologies for the fabrication of nanoparticle assemblies are less established than what conventional molecular synthesis can offer. We developed a new approach that is based on the functionalization of the polar singularities that must form when a curved surface is coated with ordered monolayers, such as a phase-separated mixture of ligands. This simple method can allow us to place reactive molecules specifically at two diametrically opposed positions in the molecular coating of metal nanoparticles and thus, creating nanoparticle based bi-functional reactive monomers.