Electroless Deposition of Silver onto Silica Nanoparticles to Produce Lipophilic Core-Shell Nanoparticles.

Hypothesis: The colloidal stability of noble metal nanoparticles can be tuned for solvents of varying hydrophobicity by modifying the surface chemistry of the particles with different capping agent architectures. Challenges arise when attempting to separately control multiple nanoparticle properties due to the interdependence of this adsorption process on the surface chemistry and metal architecture. A surfactant-mediated, templated synthesis strategy should decouple control over size and stability to produce lipophilic nanoparticles from aqueous reagents.