One-pot synthesis and characterization of bifunctional Au-Fe3O4 hybrid core-shell nanoparticles

We report the one-pot synthesis of bifunctional Au-Fe3O4 hybrid core-shell nanoparticles by controlled sequential reactions. The core-shell nanostructure of the resultant nanoparticles is identified by XRD and TEM, which is further substantiated by the changes in the corresponding physical and chemical properties. The nanoparticles exhibit a well-shaped absorption band in the visible region with a remarkable red-shifting to similar to 592 nm and show clear superparamagnetic behavior at room temperature along with enhanced susceptibility, demonstrating the integration of the optical and magnetic functions of the respective components in one entity. This kind of bifunctional optical-magnetic core-shell nanoparticles could be of interest in interfacial proximity effects due to the unique spatial nanostructure configuration and have potential applications in various areas. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.