General approach for the synthesis of organic-inorganic hybrid nanoparticles mediated by supercritical CO2

We report in this paper novel chemistry that addresses the problem of surfactant solubility in supercritical CO2 for metal nanoparticle synthesis. This new approach for the preparation of organic-functionalized inorganic nanoparticles relies on the reduction of a metal precursor in a CO2-containing insoluble polymer. Reduction of the metal with H-2 leads to small nanocrystals stabilized by the polymer with a relatively small polydispersity. The functionalized metal nanoparticles are recovered as a dry powder, free of any organic solvents, which can then be resuspended in an appropriate solvent. This approach limits the number of steps for the preparation of functional nanoparticles which are ready for use. To illustrate this, we report results of the preparation of palladium and silver nanoparticles of 3-5 nm size stabilized with hyperbranched polyamines, functionalized with perfluoroalkyl, perfluorooligoether, non-fluorinated alkyl, polysiloxane, or polyethylene glycol moieties.