Engineering Gold Nanoparticle Interaction by PAMAM Dendrimer

Bare faceted gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have a tendency to aggregate through a preferred attachment of the [111] surfaces. We have used fully atomistic classical molecular dynamics simulations to obtain a quantitative estimate of this surface interaction using umbrella sampling (US) at various temperatures. To tune this surface interaction, we use polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimer to coat the gold surface under various conditions. We observe a spontaneous adsorption of the protonated as well as nonprotonated PAMAM dendrimer on the AuNP surface. The adsorbed dendrimer on the nanoparticle surface strongly alters the interaction between the nanoparticles. We calculate the interaction between dendrimer-coated AuNPs using US and show how the interaction between two bare faceted AuNPs can be tuned as a function of dendrimer concentration and charge (pH-dependent). With appropriate choice of the dendrimer concentration and charge, two strongly interacting AuNPs can be made effectively noninteracting. Our simulation results demonstrate a strategy to tune the nanoparticle interaction, which can help in engineering self-assembly of such nanoparticles