Preparation of compact nanoparticle clusters from polyethylene glycol-coated gold nanoparticles by fine-tuning colloidal interactions
- Zámbó, Dániel
- Radnóczi, György Zoltán
- Deák, András
DOIAbstract
Low-molecular weight polyethylene glycol (PEG) has a lower critical solution temperature well outside the boiling point of water at ambient pressure, but it can be reduced at high ionic strengths. We extend this concept to trigger the clustering of gold nanoparticles through the control of colloidal interactions. At high ionic strengths, low-molecular weight (<2000 Da) mPEG-SH-modi fi ed gold nanoparticles show clustering with an increase in the solution temperature. The clustering temperature decreases with an increasing ionic strength. The clustering is attributed to the delicate interplay between the high ionic strength and elevated temperature and is interpreted in terms of chain collapse of the surface-grafted PEG molecules...
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