Bimetallic Multifunctional Core@Shell Plasmonic Nanoparticles\nfor Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance Based Sensing and Electrocatalysis

Abstract

Smart bimetallic core@shell nanoparticles were fabricated\nbased\non gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) decorated with pH-sensitive polymer\nshell. Concretely, AuNPs having poly­(4-vinylpyridine) (P4VP) on the\nsurface were first fabricated through surface-initiated atom transfer\nradical polymerization (SI-ATRP). Then, they were mixed with selected\nmetal precursor solutions followed by reduction using reducing agent.\nThe metal NPs thus introduced were uniformly distributed in P4VP polymer\nshells. In order to explore the diversity and viable function of the\nresultant nanostructures, we controlled the size of AuNP, pH, selectivity\nof metal precursors, etc. We investigated the structural alteration\nduring the sequential synthetic process. The bimetallic nanostructures\nof AuNP@P4VP nanocomposites containing another type of metal NP at\nthe P4VP periphery exhibit a controlled sensing property in terms\nof the change in the refractive index of surrounding media and a typical\nelectrocatalytic activity for methanol oxidation reaction.