Radiation-induced preparation of bimetallic nanoparticles in the films of interpolyelectrolyte complexes

The bimetallic nanostructures are of considerable interest for various prospective applications. This paper reports a generation of the Cu/Ag and Cu/Au nanoparticles in the interpolyelectrolyte films irradiated in aqueous media. It was shown that the radiation-induced reduction of (Cu/Ag) or (Cu/Au) ions in the matrix of poly(acrylic acid)-polyethylenimine complexes led to formation of the nanoparticles with narrow size distribution. The core-shell structure of nanoparticles was demonstrated by the TEM results. According to the X-ray diffraction data, the nanoparticle cores (Ag or Au) are formed at early stage of irradiation, while increase of the absorbed dose results in the growth of copper shell. It was demonstrated that the radiation induced reduction could be applied for effective preparation of bimetallic nanoparticles directly in the polymer matrix.