Surfactant Design Strategy for One-Pot Seedless Synthesis of Hollow Mesoporous AuAg Alloy Nanospheres

J Phys Chem Lett. 2020 Jul 16;11(14):5777-5784. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.0c01577. Epub 2020 Jul 7.

Abstract

Hollow gold (Au)-based nanostructures have recently been developed for various applications. However, current nanosynthesis approaches have not yet successfully been implemented for precisely engineering hollow Au-based nanostructures with uniform and well-defined mesoporous shell frameworks. Here, we develop an easy one-pot seedless strategy for fabricating hollow mesoporous AuAg (h-mesoAuAg) nanospheres by combining the galvanic replacement reaction with the surfactant-templated growth. Thiol-terminated multifunctional C22H45N+(CH3)2-C3H6-SH (Cl-) (C22N-SH) as the functional surfactant is the key that facilitates the formation of covalently stable C22N-S-Au(I) and C22N-S-Ag(I) intermediates. Such intermediates template in situ growth of mesoAuAg shell on initially nucleated Ag-rich seeds through the galvanic replacement reaction. Hierarchically hollow/mesoporous nanostructures and corresponding optical responses of h-mesoAuAg are also precisely engineered by tailoring synthetic parameters. With structural and compositional advantages, h-mesoAuAg nanospheres exhibit promising electrochemical performances toward methanol oxidation reaction and nonenzymatic glucose sensor.

MeSH terms

  • Alloys / chemical synthesis*
  • Electrochemical Techniques / methods
  • Glucose / analysis
  • Gold / chemistry
  • Methanol / chemistry
  • Nanospheres / chemistry*
  • Oxidation-Reduction
  • Porosity
  • Quaternary Ammonium Compounds / chemistry
  • Silver / chemistry
  • Sulfhydryl Compounds / chemistry
  • Surface-Active Agents / chemistry*

Substances

  • Alloys
  • Quaternary Ammonium Compounds
  • Sulfhydryl Compounds
  • Surface-Active Agents
  • Silver
  • Gold
  • Glucose
  • Methanol