title: Surface plasmon spectroscopy of gold-poly-N-isopropylacrylamide core-shell particles.
abstract: Highly uniform, core-shell microgels consisting of single gold nanoparticle cores and cross-linked poly-N-isopropylacrylamide (PNIPAM) shells were prepared by a novel, versatile protocol. The synthetic pathway allows control over the polymer shell thickness and its swelling behavior. The core-shell structure was investigated by electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy, whereas the swelling behavior of the shell was studied by means of dynamic light scattering and UV-vis spectroscopy. Furthermore, the latter method was used to investigate the optical properties of the hybrid particles. By modeling the scattering contribution from the PNIPAM shells, the absorption spectra of the gold nanoparticle cores could be recovered. This allows the particle concentration to be determined, and this in turn permits the calculation of the molar mass of the hybrid particles as well as the refractive index of the shells.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry & Bio21 Institute, University of Melbourne, 30 Flemington Road, 3010 Victoria, Australia. mkarg@unimelb.edu.au
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Karg
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jaber
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hellweg
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mulvaney
mesh_terms: D000180:Acrylic Resins / Q000737:chemistry*; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D009942:Organometallic Compounds / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D010316:Particle Size; D020349:Surface Plasmon Resonance; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D000180:Acrylic Resins; D009942:Organometallic Compounds; C052970:poly-N-isopropylacrylamide; D006046:Gold