title: Thermal stability of gold nanoparticles embedded within metal oxide frameworks fabricated by hybrid modifications onto sacrificial textile templates.
abstract: The stability and spatial separation of nanoparticles (NP's) is essential for employing their advantageous nanoscale properties. This work demonstrates the entrapment of gold NP's embedded in a porous inorganic matrix. Initially, gold NP's are decorated on fibrous nylon-6, which is used as an inexpensive sacrificial template. This is followed by inorganic modification using a novel single exposure cycle vapor phase technique resulting in distributed NP's embedded within a hybrid organic-inorganic matrix. The processing is extended to the synthesis of porous nanoflakes after calcination of the modified nylon-6 yielding a porous metal oxide framework surrounding the disconnected NP's with a surface area of 250 m(2)/g. A unique feature of this work is the use of a transmission electron microscope (TEM) equipped with an in situ annealing sample holder. The apparatus affords the opportunity to explore the underlying nanoscopic stability of NP's embedded in these frameworks in a single step. TEM analysis indicates thermal stability up to 670 °C and agglomeration characteristics thereafter. The vapor phase processes developed in this work will facilitate new complex NP/oxide materials useful for catalytic platforms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Textile Engineering, Chemistry and Science and ‡Department of Materials Science and Engineering, North Carolina State University , Raleigh, North Carolina 27695, United States.
authors.forename: Richard P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Padbury
authors.forename: Jonathan C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Halbur
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Krommenhoek
authors.forename: Joseph B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Tracy
authors.forename: Jesse S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Jur