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Zhang Y, Ye Z, Li C, Chen Q, Aljuhani W, Huang Y, Xu X, Wu C, Bell SEJ, Xu Y. General approach to surface-accessible plasmonic Pickering emulsions for SERS sensing and interfacial catalysis. Nat Commun 2023; 14:1392. [PMID: 36914627 PMCID: PMC10011407 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-37001-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2022] [Accepted: 02/24/2023] [Indexed: 03/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Pickering emulsions represent an important class of functional materials with potential applications in sustainability and healthcare. Currently, the synthesis of Pickering emulsions relies heavily on the use of strongly adsorbing molecular modifiers to tune the surface chemistry of the nanoparticle constituents. This approach is inconvenient and potentially a dead-end for many applications since the adsorbed modifiers prevent interactions between the functional nanosurface and its surroundings. Here, we demonstrate a general modifier-free approach to construct Pickering emulsions by using a combination of stabilizer particles, which stabilize the emulsion droplet, and a second population of unmodified functional particles that sit alongside the stabilizers at the interface. Freeing Pickering emulsions from chemical modifiers unlocks their potential across a range of applications including plasmonic sensing and interfacial catalysis that have previously been challenging to achieve. More broadly, this strategy provides an approach to the development of surface-accessible nanomaterials with enhanced and/or additional properties from a wide range of nano-building blocks including organic nanocrystals, carbonaceous materials, metals and oxides.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yingrui Zhang
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Queen's University Belfast, University Road, Belfast, BT7 1NN, UK
| | - Ziwei Ye
- Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials, Joint International Research Laboratory of Precision Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Feringa Nobel Prize Scientist Joint Research Center, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China University of Science & Technology, Shanghai, 200237, PR China
| | - Chunchun Li
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Queen's University Belfast, University Road, Belfast, BT7 1NN, UK
| | - Qinglu Chen
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Queen's University Belfast, University Road, Belfast, BT7 1NN, UK
| | - Wafaa Aljuhani
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Queen's University Belfast, University Road, Belfast, BT7 1NN, UK
| | - Yiming Huang
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Queen's University Belfast, University Road, Belfast, BT7 1NN, UK
| | - Xin Xu
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Molecular Catalysis and Innovative Materials, MOE Key Laboratory of Computational Physical Sciences, Department of Chemistry, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, PR China
| | - Chunfei Wu
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Queen's University Belfast, University Road, Belfast, BT7 1NN, UK
| | - Steven E J Bell
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Queen's University Belfast, University Road, Belfast, BT7 1NN, UK
| | - Yikai Xu
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Queen's University Belfast, University Road, Belfast, BT7 1NN, UK.
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Zhai X, Efrima S. Chemical and Physical Aspects of Macroemulsions Stabilized by Interfacial Colloids. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 1996. [DOI: 10.1021/jp953171c] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- X. Zhai
- Department of Chemistry, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, P.O. Box 653, Beer-Sheva, Israel 84105
| | - S. Efrima
- Department of Chemistry, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, P.O. Box 653, Beer-Sheva, Israel 84105
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Zhai X, Efrima S. Silver Colloids and Macroemulsions of Metal Interfacial Colloidal Films: Interaction with Dithizone. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 1996. [DOI: 10.1021/jp9529073] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- X. Zhai
- Department of Chemistry, Ben-Gurion University, P.O. Box 653, Beer-Sheva, Israel 84105
| | - S. Efrima
- Department of Chemistry, Ben-Gurion University, P.O. Box 653, Beer-Sheva, Israel 84105
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Farbman I, Levi O, Efrima S. Optical response of concentrated colloids of coinage metals in the near‐ultraviolet, visible, and infrared regions. J Chem Phys 1992. [DOI: 10.1063/1.462888] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
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