One-step shell polymerization of inorganic nanoparticles and their applications in SERS/nonlinear optical imaging, drug delivery, and catalysis

Surface functionalized nanoparticles have found their applications in several fields including biophotonics, nanobiomedicine, biosensing, drug delivery, and catalysis. Quite often, the nanoparticle surfaces must be post-coated with organic or inorganic layers during the synthesis before use. This work reports a generally one-pot synthesis method for the preparation of various inorganic-organic core-shell nanostructures (Au@polymer, Ag@polymer, Cu@polymer, Fe3O4@polymer, and TiO2@polymer), which led to new optical, magnetic, and catalytic applications. This green synthesis involved reacting inorganic precursors and poly(styrene-alt-maleic acid). The polystyrene blocks separated from the external aqueous environment acting as a hydrophobic depot for aromatic drugs and thus illustrated the integration of functional nanoobjects for drug delivery. Among these nanocomposites, the Au@polymer nanoparticles with good biocompatibility exhibited shell-dependent signal enhancement in the surface plasmon resonance shift, nonlinear fluorescence, and surface-enhanced Raman scattering properties. These unique optical properties were used for dual-modality imaging on the delivery of the aromatic photosensitizer for photodynamic therapy to HeLa cells.