Fabrication of the multilayered nanostructure of alternating polymers and gold nanoparticles with thin films of self-assembling diblock copolymers

We demonstrated successful fabrication of a multilayered nanostructure of a lternating pure polymeric lamellae and gold nanoparticle-containing lamella e, both in a nanometer thickness, by utilization of thin films of symmetric polystyrene-bloch-poly(4-vinylpyridine), PS-b-P4VP. The strong interaction between the P4VP block and the substrate and lower surface energy of the P S block generated a multilayer of lamellae parallel to the substrate with a n asymmetric wetting configuration. Then, gold nanoparticles were synthesiz ed selectively in the P4VP lamellae without altering the multilayered struc ture. The thin film of alternating polymers and gold nanoparticles was conf irmed by transmission electron microscopy. Since self-assembling polymers w ere employed, the multilayered nanostructure was effectively fabricated wit hout a layer-by-layer process.