This literature discussion was created at the NSF-TUES sponsored VIPEr workshop at Penn State, June 2013 by
Anne Bentley (Lewis & Clark College, bentley@lclark.edu), Karen S. Brewer (Hamilton College,
kbrewer@hamilton.edu), Cameron Gren (University of North Alabama, cgren@una.edu), Karen Holman (Williamette
University, kholman@williamette.edu), Angela Jovanovic (Pennsylvania State University, anj5318@psu.edu), and
Charles Mebi (Arkansas Tech University, cmebi@atu.edu) and posted on VIPEr on June 27, 2013, Copyright 2013.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License. To view a copy
of this license visit http://creativecommons.org/about/license/
Building hybrid nanoparticles
This in-class activity was created at the NSF-sponsored cCWCS VIPEr workshop at Penn State,
June 2013. It is based on the article from Ray Schaak’s group (Buck, Matthew R.; Bondi,
James F.; Schaak, Raymond E. “A total-synthesis framework for the construction of high-order
colloidal hybrid nanoparticles” Nature Chemistry 2012, 4, 37-44, DOI: 10.1038/NCHEM.1195),
which Ray presented at the workshop.
Work with the other students in your team to answer the following questions.
1. The researchers first synthesized nanoparticles of Pt and then used them as seeds to grow
Fe3O4 particles. The resulting Pt-Fe3O4 particles contained two domains:
If these Pt-Fe3O4 dimer nanoparticles are put in an environment that encourages the growth of
Ag nanoparticles, where are the possible nucleation sites for Ag? Draw pictures for all of the
possible configurations.
2. How would you chemically rationalize each of these configurations? Which do you predict is
the most likely, if any?
This literature discussion was created at the NSF-TUES sponsored VIPEr workshop at Penn State, June 2013 by
Anne Bentley (Lewis & Clark College, bentley@lclark.edu), Karen S. Brewer (Hamilton College,
kbrewer@hamilton.edu), Cameron Gren (University of North Alabama, cgren@una.edu), Karen Holman (Williamette
University, kholman@williamette.edu), Angela Jovanovic (Pennsylvania State University, anj5318@psu.edu), and
Charles Mebi (Arkansas Tech University, cmebi@atu.edu) and posted on VIPEr on June 27, 2013, Copyright 2013.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License. To view a copy
of this license visit http://creativecommons.org/about/license/
3. Design a series of control experiments that would help to explore the binding of Ag to the PtFe3O4 hybrid nanoparticles. How could you prove whether Ag nucleates on Pt and Fe3O4
separately?
4. Suggest experimental techniques that could be used to distinguish between the possible
products.
5. The product obtained when depositing nanosilver onto the nano Pt–Fe3O4 is exclusively Ag–
Pt–Fe3O4. Suggest a reason.