Nanoparticle Hybrid Materials:

Syntheses, Properties, and Potential Application

Silke Behrens, Institut für Technische Chemie, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie

The synthesis of nanostructured hybrid materials (e.g., inorganic/inorganic, bioorganic/inorganic hybrids) has gained increasing attention for emerging applications as sensors, imaging agents, and catalysts. Magnetic nanocomposite materials, e.g., have emerged as an important class of functional nanostructures with applications in various technical and biomedical fields. One challenge in synthesizing multicomponent nanostructures is understanding how to form the interface between the different materials which may exhibit different crystallographic structures, lattice dimensions, chemical stability, or reactivity. The lecture will specifically address the organometallic synthesis and properties of functional cobalt and iron nanoparticles with a special emphasis on the role of bifunctional ligands to control the growth of the particles and their direct integration into magnetic microspheres. Another fundamental, yet under-explored, material system is the interface between biological molecules and inorganic surfaces and its control of particle growth processes. The use of protein assemblies for the size-controlled synthesis and organization of nanoscaled metal-protein hybrid structures will be reported.

Fig. 1: Chain-like Pd nanoparticle - protein hybrid structures