Dispersion of Gold Nanoparticles in UV-Cured, Thiol-Ene Films by Precomplexation of Gold-Thiol

Authors

J. Paige Phillips Buchanan, University of Southern MississippiFollow
Nicole M. Mackey, University of Southern Mississippi
Bridget S. Confait, University of Southern Mississippi
David T. Heaps, University of Southern Mississippi
Xiao Deng, University of Southern Mississippi
Meredith L. Todd, University of Southern Mississippi
Steven Stevenson, University of Southern Mississippi
Hui Zhou, University of Southern Mississippi
Charles E. Hoyle, University of Southern MississippiFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-26-2008

Department

Chemistry and Biochemistry

School

Mathematics and Natural Sciences

Abstract

Alkyl thiols and alkenes (enes) polymerize via an extremely rapid step-growth, free-radical chain process, uninhibited by air, to give high-density networks with excellent mechanical and physical properties. These thiol−ene coatings are potentially useful for a wide variety of coatings, adhesives, and optical applications. In this work, a series of nanogold-containing UV-cured, thiol−ene coatings were prepared from trimethylolpropane tris(3-mercaptopropionate) (trithiol) and pentaerythritol allyl ether (triene) monomers using a unique procedure which facilitates precomplexation of the gold−thiol prior to photocuring. Irgacure 651 (1 wt %) was used as a photoinitiator, and nanogold was incorporated at 0−1 wt %, average ∼10 nm size particles by TEM. Physical and mechanical properties were characterized using bulk tack analysis and other standard techniques: DSC, TGA, pencil hardness, and gel fractions. In general, films were found to be low absorbing in the visible range and highly uniform and to contain well-dispersed nanogold particles. Although the rate of polymerization was modestly retarded by the presence of gold nanoparticles, functional group conversions (C═C and S−H) and gel fractions were high. Increasing nanogold content resulted in an increase in T_g measured by DSC (−15 to −8 °C for 0−1 wt % nanogold, respectively) due to the increasing number of physical gold−thiol cross-links created. TGA analysis revealed a small negative impact of increasing nanogold composition on relative thermal stability. The 1 wt % nanogold-containing samples possessed appreciable electrostatic discharge (ESD) character, with ESD times of 1−10 s measured using a commercial charge plate analyzer.

Publication Title

Chemistry of Materials

Volume

20

Issue

16

First Page

5240

Last Page

5245

Recommended Citation

Buchanan, J. P., Mackey, N., Confait, B., Heaps, D., Deng, X., Todd, M. L., Stevenson, S., Zhou, H., Hoyle, C. E. (2008). Dispersion of Gold Nanoparticles in UV-Cured, Thiol-Ene Films by Precomplexation of Gold-Thiol. Chemistry of Materials, 20(16), 5240-5245.
Available at: https://aquila.usm.edu/fac_pubs/8971