Engineering polymers via understanding the effect of anchoring groups for highly stable liquid metal nanoparticles
Engineering polymers via understanding the effect of anchoring groups for highly stable liquid metal nanoparticles
Liquid metal nanoparticles (LMNPs) have recently attracted much attention as soft functional materials for various biorelated applications. Despite the fact that several reports demonstrate highly stable LMNPs in aqueous solutions or organic solvents, it is still challenging to stabilize LMNPs in biological media with complex ionic environments. LMNPs grafted with functional polymers (polymers/LMNPs) have been fabricated for maintaining their colloidal and chemical stability; however, to the best of our knowledge, no related work has been conducted to systematically investigate the effect of anchoring groups on the stability of LMNPs. Herein, various anchoring groups, including phosphonic acids, trithiolcarbonates, thiols, and carboxylic acids, are incorporated into brush polymers via reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization to graft LMNPs. Both the colloidal and chemical stability of such polymer/LMNP systems are then investigated in various biological media. Moreover, the influence of multidentate ligands is also investigated by incorporating different numbers of carboxylic or phosphonic acid into the brush polymers. We discover that increasing the number of anchoring groups enhances the colloidal stability of LMNPs, while polymers bearing phosphonic acids provide the optimum chemical stability for LMNPs due to surface passivation. Thus, polymers bearing multidentate phosphonic acids are desirable to decorate LMNPs to meet complex environments for biological studies.
biological solutions, brushed polymers, colloidal stability, liquid metal, nanocomposites
5959-5971
Huang, Xumin
25e3f1a9-5c90-45c8-87cf-a2fd3552f646
Xu, Tianhong
7c89b629-e8a1-468b-ac1f-19d6a99c7b65
Shen, Ao
5ff5c7d4-2dc3-4d94-8b58-6802e0647b88
Davis, Thomas P.
1041ec19-c740-4a43-bbaf-e8a740c2f658
Qiao, Ruirui
cf0ce629-af33-47c2-81c5-6d62ccf80f7e
Tang, Shi Yang
1d0f15c6-2a3e-4bad-a3d8-fc267db93ed4
27 May 2022
Huang, Xumin
25e3f1a9-5c90-45c8-87cf-a2fd3552f646
Xu, Tianhong
7c89b629-e8a1-468b-ac1f-19d6a99c7b65
Shen, Ao
5ff5c7d4-2dc3-4d94-8b58-6802e0647b88
Davis, Thomas P.
1041ec19-c740-4a43-bbaf-e8a740c2f658
Qiao, Ruirui
cf0ce629-af33-47c2-81c5-6d62ccf80f7e
Tang, Shi Yang
1d0f15c6-2a3e-4bad-a3d8-fc267db93ed4
Huang, Xumin, Xu, Tianhong, Shen, Ao, Davis, Thomas P., Qiao, Ruirui and Tang, Shi Yang
(2022)
Engineering polymers via understanding the effect of anchoring groups for highly stable liquid metal nanoparticles.
ACS Applied Nano Materials, 5 (5), .
(doi:10.1021/acsanm.1c04138).
Abstract
Liquid metal nanoparticles (LMNPs) have recently attracted much attention as soft functional materials for various biorelated applications. Despite the fact that several reports demonstrate highly stable LMNPs in aqueous solutions or organic solvents, it is still challenging to stabilize LMNPs in biological media with complex ionic environments. LMNPs grafted with functional polymers (polymers/LMNPs) have been fabricated for maintaining their colloidal and chemical stability; however, to the best of our knowledge, no related work has been conducted to systematically investigate the effect of anchoring groups on the stability of LMNPs. Herein, various anchoring groups, including phosphonic acids, trithiolcarbonates, thiols, and carboxylic acids, are incorporated into brush polymers via reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization to graft LMNPs. Both the colloidal and chemical stability of such polymer/LMNP systems are then investigated in various biological media. Moreover, the influence of multidentate ligands is also investigated by incorporating different numbers of carboxylic or phosphonic acid into the brush polymers. We discover that increasing the number of anchoring groups enhances the colloidal stability of LMNPs, while polymers bearing phosphonic acids provide the optimum chemical stability for LMNPs due to surface passivation. Thus, polymers bearing multidentate phosphonic acids are desirable to decorate LMNPs to meet complex environments for biological studies.
Text
acsanm.1c04138
- Version of Record
More information
Published date: 27 May 2022
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
S.-Y.T. is grateful for the support from the Royal Society (IEC\NSFC\201223). R.Q. is grateful for the National Health and Medical Research Council (APP1196850), UQ Amplify Women’s Academic Research Equity (UQAWARE), and Advance Queensland Women’s Research Assistance Program (AQWRAP). The authors acknowledge the use of the facilities at the Queensland node of the Australian National Fabrication Facility. A company established under the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy to provide nano- and microfabrication facilities for Australia’s researchers.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.
Keywords:
biological solutions, brushed polymers, colloidal stability, liquid metal, nanocomposites
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 481920
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/481920
PURE UUID: 41cd92c2-ff1a-41e7-9d5a-86f983db224c
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 13 Sep 2023 17:09
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 04:13
Export record
Altmetrics
Contributors
Author:
Xumin Huang
Author:
Tianhong Xu
Author:
Ao Shen
Author:
Thomas P. Davis
Author:
Ruirui Qiao
Author:
Shi Yang Tang
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics