Chemically stable silver nanoparticle-crosslinked polymer microspheres.

Stabilization of metal nanoparticles (MNP) is a prerequisite for any application in sensor design, optoelectronics, catalysis, spectroscopic labeling, and nanomedicine. However, MNPs produced by most currently available synthetic approaches tend to undergo aggregation into large clusters, thus reducing their accessibility and compromising properties associated with their nanoscale dimensions. To circumvent the agglomeration problem and enhance their chemical and physical stability, we developed an efficient strategy for the preparation of MNP/polymer composites in which silver nanoparticles coated with 4-mercaptomethylstyrene act as crosslinkers in a suspension polymerization. The resulting microspheres were characterized by Raman, SERS and XPS spectroscopies, DSC, SEM and TEM. Their chemical and physical stability was also established.