Fabrication of polydiacetylene nanocrystals with metal nanoshells - Photo-catalytic reduction and optical properties

The well-defined PDA nanocrystals were previously prepared by reprecipitation method following microwave irradiation. Afterward, photo-catalytic reduction of silver cation and the subsequent self-catalysis of silver metal enabled efficient silver deposition on the surface of PDA nanocrystal core. Fine silver nanoparticles in the size range of 5 to 15 nm were directly deposited on the surface of PDA nanocrystal with ca. 150 nm (Figure 1). This photo-process could be widely applied to various kinds of organic nanocrystal (core) / metal (nanoshell) systems. The optical properties of resulting nanocrystals and the mechanism of photo-catalytic reduction on PDA will be also described in detail.