Photoactivated Nitrene Chemistry to Prepare Gold Nanoparticle Hybrids with Carbonaceous Materials

Photolysis of organic solvent soluble aryl azide-modified gold nanoparticles (N3-AuNPs) with a core size of 4.6 +/- 1.6 nm results in the generation of interfacial reactive nitrene intermediates. The high reactivity of the nitrenes is utilized to tether the AuNP to the native surface of carbon nanotubes, and reduce graphene oxide and micro-diamond powder, likely via addition to p-conjugated carbon skeleton or insertion into the functionalities at the surface, to yield the desired hybrid material without the need for pretreatment of the surface. The AuNP-covalent hybrid materials are robust in that they survive vigorous washing and sonication. In the absence of photolysis no attachment occurs with the same N3-AuNP. The nanohybrid AuNP-nanohybrid materials are characterized using a combination of TEM, powder XRD, XPS and UV/Vis and IR spectroscopies. All of the characterization studies confirm the uniform incorporation of the AuNP on the irradiated substrates.