Encapsulation of a single metal nanoparticle with tunable size in a monodisperse polymer microcapsule.

A versatile approach to fabricate monodisperse poly[styrene-co-(divinyl benzene)] (PS-co-DVB) microcapsules that contain a single gold nanoparticle (AuNP) has been demonstrated. Using the PS-co-DVB microcapsule as a microreactor, aqueous HAuCl(4) and NaBH(4) solutions are subsequently infiltrated. The size of the resulting AuNP inside of the PS-co-DVB microcapsules is easily tunable by controlling the repeated infiltration cycles of aqueous HAuCl(4) and NaBH(4) . PS-co-DVB microcapsules that contain a single silver and palladium nanoparticle are also obtained by following a similar protocol.