Symmetry Breaking Induced by Growth Kinetics: One-Pot Synthesis of Janus Au-AgBr Nanoparticles

This study describes a one-pot synthetic strategy consisting of concerted stabilization and photo and chemical reductions of metal ions to yield precise anisotropic nanostructures. Photoirradiation of an aqueous precursor solution containing Au3+, Ag+, Br-, and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) forms Janus nanoparticles (NPs) composed of Au having a tiny Ag shell and AgBr. The Au NPs are initially generated by photoreduction of Au(3+)in the precursor solution, in which the formation of silver halides is strongly inhibited by the coordination bond between Ag(+)and the carbonyl groups in PVP. The coordinated PVP chains are adsorbed on the surfaces of the Au NPs, with the concomitant release of free Ag(+)ions. The part of the surface of the Au NP is covered with a few Ag atoms via chemical reduction of Ag(+)by PVP. AgBr nanocrystals grow at a bare site on the surface of each Au NP, resulting in the formation of nearly monodisperse Janus Au-AgBr NPs in high yield. A characteristic light absorption profile emerges due to the interface formed between Au and AgBr, which is demonstrated by finite-difference time-domain simulation. The precise nanostructures may be leveraged to elucidate mechanisms of photoelectrochemical processes and to construct advanced plasmonic photocatalysts.