Controlled Synthesis of Metal‐Nanoparticles Decorated Block Copolymer Hybrid Particles via Emulsion Confined Self‐assembly and Their Catalytic Applications

Abstract

Comprehensive SummaryMetal nanoparticles (NPs) decorated block copolymer (BCP) hybrid nanoparticles have attracted enormous attention for their actual value in catalysis, medical therapy, and bioengineering. The confined assembly of BCPs within evaporative emulsion droplet is verified as an effective method to provide polymeric scaffolds to load metal NPs. However, to date, it remains challenging to generate different types of metal NPs decorated BCP hybrid nanoparticles. Herein, we employed the emulsion confined self‐assembly of poly(styrene‐b‐ 2‐vinylpyridine) (PS‐b‐P2VP) and the followed seed‐mediated growth of Au and palladium (Pd) NPs onto well‐defined BCP particles to design a series of Au/Pd decorated BCP hybrid nanoparticles, which exhibited excellent catalytic activity for the reduction of 4‐nitrophenol to 4‐aminophenol with the reductant of NaBH4. This work may inspire more researchers to investigate the selective decoration of different metal NPs onto the polymeric scaffolds, broadening the potential applications of the inorganic/organic hybrid nanoparticles.