Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-Au hybrid microgels: synthesis, characterization, thermally tunable optical and catalytic properties

A large number of gold nanoparticles (ca. 3.8 nm in diameter) were homogeneously and effectively incorporated into thiol-functionalized poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) microgels through the well-known Au-thiol chemistry. Here, the thiol-functionalized PNIPAM microgels were obtained by carbodiimide-mediated amide bond formation between the carboxyl-functionalized PNIPAM microgels and 2-aminoethanethiol. The prepared PNIPAM-Au hybrid microgels exhibited well-defined thermally modulated optical and catalytic properties.