title: Silver-Polymer Composite Stars: Synthesis and Applications.
abstract: Colloidal "silver stars" were synthesized upon poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid nanosphere templates via a facile two-step silver reduction method. Myriad dendrimer-like Ag star morphologies were synthesized by varying the amount of poly(vinyl alcohol) and trisodium citrate used during silver reduction. Scanning electron microscopy studies revealed that star-shaped silver-polymer composites possessing nanoscopic, fractal morphologies with diameters ranging from 500 nm to 7 μm were produced. These composites have broad applications from antibacterial agents to catalysis; two such applications were tested here. Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) studies showed multiple hot spots of SERS activity within a single star. Electrochemical catalysis experiments demonstrated the feasibility of using the silver stars instead of platinum for the oxygen reduction reaction in alkaline fuel cells.
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Engineering Department, The University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station, C0800 Austin, Texas 78712, USA.
authors.forename: Kimberly A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Homan
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Adriane
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schiano
authors.forename: Mona
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mohamed
authors.forename: Katherine A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Willets
authors.forename: Sankaran
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Murugesan
authors.forename: Keith J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Stevenson
authors.forename: Stanislav
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Emelianov