A General Approach for Transferring Hydrophobic Nanocrystals into Water

• Published in: Nano letters Vol. 7; no. 10; pp. 3203 - 3207
• Main Authors: Zhang, Tierui, Ge, Jianping, Hu, Yongxing, Yin, Yadong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Chemical Society 01.10.2007
• Subjects: Acrylic Resins - chemistry; Catalytic methods; Chemical synthesis methods; Computer Simulation; Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Crystallization - methods; Exact sciences and technology; Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; Macromolecular Substances - chemistry; Materials science; Materials Testing; Methods of nanofabrication; Models, Chemical; Models, Molecular; Molecular Conformation; Nanocrystalline materials; Nanoscale materials and structures: fabrication and characterization; Nanostructures - chemistry; Nanostructures - ultrastructure; Nanotechnology - methods; Optical properties and condensed-matter spectroscopy and other interactions of matter with particles and radiation; Optical properties of low-dimensional, mesoscopic, and nanoscale materials and structures; Particle Size; Physics; Polyamines - chemistry; Surface Properties; Water - chemistry; Polyelectrolyte; Aqueous solutions; Organic solvents; Photocatalysis; Photoluminescence; Hydrophobic compound; Ligands; Catalyst activity; Nanostructured materials; Physical properties; Glycol; Nanocrystal
• ISSN: 1530-6984; 1530-6992
• DOI: 10.1021/nl071928t

Hydrophobic inorganic nanocrystals have been transferred from organic solvent to aqueous solution through a robust and general ligand exchange procedure. Polyelectrolytes such as poly(acrylic acid) and poly(allylamine) are used to replace the original hydrophobic ligands on the surface of nanocrystals at an elevated temperature in a glycol solvent and eventually render the nanocrystals highly water soluble. The physical properties of the nanocrystals, such as superparamagnetism, photocatalytic activity, and photoluminescence, are maintained or improved after ligand exchange.