Thermally-driven gold@poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) core-shell nanotransporters for molecular extraction

Chi Zhang; Fangfang Deng; Wenqi Xiong; Xujie Wang; Shengjun Yuan; Tao Ding

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2020.10.008

Thermally-driven gold@poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) core-shell nanotransporters for molecular extraction

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2021 Feb 15:584:789-794. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2020.10.008. Epub 2020 Oct 13.

Authors

Chi Zhang¹, Fangfang Deng¹, Wenqi Xiong¹, Xujie Wang¹, Shengjun Yuan¹, Tao Ding²

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro- and Nano-structures of Ministry of Education of China, School of Physics and Technology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072 China.
² Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro- and Nano-structures of Ministry of Education of China, School of Physics and Technology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072 China. Electronic address: t.ding@whu.edu.cn.

PMID: 33268066
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2020.10.008

Abstract

Hypothesis: Molecular extraction efficiency can be boosted with the assistance of nanoparticles (NPs). It is based on adsorption of the extractants in one phase and desorption in another phase, which requires a reversible phase transfer of the NPs.

Experiments: We synthesized the gold@poly(N-isopropylacryamide) (Au@PNIPAM) NPs via an interfacial self-assembly method enhanced by post-polymerization. We adopted Rhodamine 6G (R6G) as the model molecule for the extraction test. In comparison, UV-Vis extinction spectra were recorded to monitor the extraction processes with or without the Au@PNIPAM NPs. We further analyzed theoretically with thermodynamics and first-principle calculations.

Findings: The hybrid Au@PNIPAM NPs show a reversible phase transfer between the interface and chloroform phases. The Au NPs assisted extraction efficiency of R6G shows 5 times higher than that without Au NPs. The thermodynamic analysis of the nanotransportation system agrees well with the ab initio density functional theory calculations. This nanoparticle-assisted molecular transportation modifies the extraction kinetics significantly, which will provide further implications for biphasic catalysis, pollutant treatment and drug delivery.

Keywords: Extinction; Extraction; Gold nanoparticles; Nanotransporters.