The fabrication of photosensitive self-assembly Au nanoparticles embedded in silica nanofibers by electrospinning

In this study, we demonstrated a simple, efficient, and low-cost method to fabricate large-area self-assembly Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) encapsulated within silica nanofibers (Au/SiO2). The method is based on electrospinning and thermal decomposition of hybrid nanofibers prepared front the solution of tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS), polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and AuNPs. This study employed the electrospinning technique for the first time as a successful method for preparing a self-organized AuNP peapod chain in a silica nanofiber matrix, Under mild conditions. It has the advantage of easily controlling the diameters of the silica nanofibers as well as the concentration of the AuNPs in the spinning solution. The Au/SiO2 hybrid nanofibers fabricated by this method exhibited all Obvious photoelectric response Under the illumination wavelength around the Au/SiO2 nanofibers Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) absorption band, whereas no photoelectric response was observed for the pure Silica fibers. The excellent characteristics of photoelectric response suggest that the electrospinning technique has a great potential for large-scale fabrication of functional nanofiber devices. The ability Of Coupling light responses into the nanosystems dependent on metallic nanoparticle SPR opens tip new prospects for the Construction Of nanoscale waveguiding devices, sensors and optoelectronics. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.