Characterization of
J
anus gold nanoparticles obtained via spontaneous binary polymer shell segregation
Authors: Claes Nathalie , Percebom Ana. M , Giner‐Casares Juan J. , Bals Sara , Loh Watson , Liz‐Marzán Luis M. 
Published: December 2016

Janus nanoparticles are nanoparticles (NPs) displaying two sides of different chemical nature which makes them of high interest. The formation of the Janus shell provides the NPs an amphiphilic character, which can therefore self‐assemble in a tunable fashion by varying different experimental parameters such as size, polymer ratio and temperature. Here, Au NPs coated by polyethylene glycol (PEG) and both polystyrene (PS) and poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) were investigated. [1] The true Janus character of the NPs was determined by electron tomography. Characterization of polymer coated particles by electron microscopy is challenging due to the low contrast of the organic materials. The goal was to distinguish the two different polymers in two types of particles (PEG+PNIPAM and PEG+PS coated Au NPs). Different approaches were used to improve the contrast between the two polymers. The PEG+PNIPAM particles were characterized by specific staining of the hemispheres while the character of the PEG+PS particles was investigated by the growth of silica.

First, the PEG+PNIPAM coated NPs were stained with 3 mM CuSO
4
.5H
2
O solution to generate sufficient contrast in the Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM). PNIPAM‐coated NPs showed damage of the polymer upon electron beam irradiation. For PEG‐coated NPs a stable shell was observed. In an attempt to distinguish PNIPAM and PEG, PEG+PNIPAM coated particles were stained and investigated with TEM (Fig. 1). Since conventional TEM images are 2D projections from a 3D object, electron tomography was performed. It must be noted that the conventional technique for tomography in materials science, high angle annular dark field scanning TEM (HAADF‐STEM), could not be applied due to the large difference in atomic number Z for Au and the elements in the polymer shell. Instead, Bright‐Field TEM tomography was applied. Images were acquired over the largest possible range (‐76° to +76°) every 2°, aligned and reconstructed by the SIRT (Simultaneous Iterative Reconstruction Technique) algorithm in the Astra Toolbox. [2] The obtained 3D reconstruction displayed rather low contrast between the shell and the background. Manual segmentation based on the orthoslices (xy‐, yx‐ and zx‐direction) could be carried out. This method provided a 3D reconstruction that clearly confirms the formation of stained half‐shells (Fig. 3).

In the second case of PEG+PS coated Au NPs, an attempt of staining with calcium phosphate was carried out. In TEM images hemispheres could be observed, but selective staining could not be confirmed. Due to the high affinity of PEG by silica, PEG is able to act as a primer to promote silica condensation. Since PS is hydrophobic and does not allow silica nucleation, the silica shell was expected to occur only at the parts of the NPs that are coated by PEG (Fig. 2).

Either staining or silica shell growth over PEG‐coated areas resulted in the observation of semi‐shells (Janus character) in Au NPs by TEM and electron tomography.