SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF NOBLE-METAL COLLOIDS IN BLOCK-COPOLYMER MICELLES

Communication: Noble metal nanoparticles have been used for more than 2000 years. Applications currently under discussion include solar cell technology, catalysis, and nonlinear optics, where the enormous inter facial surface area of the colloidally dispersed metals and their uniq ue electronic properties resulting from size quantization are exploite d. The problem of the stability of these materials has been addressed by using amphiphilic copolymer micelles (see figure) as a nanostructur ed stabilization environment for the metal particles.