Applied synthesis and characterisation of nanoparticles

This thesis covers three areas of development of nanomaterials synthesis; namely the synthesis of superhydrophobic polymer-nanoparticle composites (chapter 3), the synthesis of doped quantum dots for catalysis and photoluminescence enhancement (chapter 4) and the synthesis of magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles from inexpensive, readily available reagents (chapter 5). Details of characterisation and analytical techniques and synthetic methods used are given in chapter 2, and the thesis summarised in chapter 6. Superhydrophobic polymer-nanoparticle composites represent a class of material which combine the superhydrophobicity of the polymer with the functionality of incorporated nanoparticles. Reactive oxygen species generated by photocatalytic nanoparticles degrade organic matter, and thus degrade the polymer, resulting in a loss of superhydrophobicity. In this chapter, a general method for the incorporation of hydrophobically ligated nanoparticles into a superhydrophobic poly(dimethylsiloxane) polymer matrix via AACVD is demonstrated. This resulted in a highly effective, robust titania nanoparticle-poly(dimethylsiloxane) composite for photocatalysis, along with, to the best of the author's knowledge, the first superparamagnetic-superhydrophobic polymer composite. Chapter 4 deals with the synthesis and characterisation of a quantum dot based photoactivated catalyst vector which releases Cu+ via UV irradiation, the first of its kind. The catalytic activity was evaluated using “click” chemistry under UV irradiation, with quantum dots being recoverable and able to undergo several catalytic cycles. A mechanism for the photoluminescence and copper release is also postulated. The copper is incorporated into the shells of quantum dots via the decomposition of single source metal-dithiocarbamates. Chapter 5 details a method for the synthesis of iron oxide nanoparticles for magnetic hyperthermia, but from reagents obtained from the high street. A low cost synthesis was developed and the resulting nanoparticles functionalised with an amphiphilic polymer and tested for magnetic hyperthermia.