Gold nanoparticle ring arrays from core–satellite nanostructures made to order by hydrogen bond interactions

Polyethylene glycol-grafted gold nanoparticles are attached to silica nanoparticle cores via hydrogen bonding in a controlled fashion, forming well-defined core–satellite structures in colloidal solution. For separating these complex structures effectively from the parental nanoparticles, a straightforward and easy protocol using glass beads has been developed. The attached gold nanoparticles show unique surface mobility on the silica core surface, which allows for nanoparticle rearrangement into a 2D ring pattern surrounding the silica nanoparticle template when the core–satellite structures are cast to a planar surface. When etching away the silica core under conditions in which the polymer shell fixes the satellites to the substrate, highly ordered ring-shaped patterns of gold nanoparticles are formed. By variation of the size of the parental particles – 13 to 28 nm for gold nanoparticles and 39 to 62 nm for silica nanoparticles – a great library of different ring-structures regarding size and particle number is accessible with relative ease. The proposed protocol is low-cost and can easily be scaled up. It moreover demonstrates the power of hydrogen bonds in polymers as a dynamic anchoring tool for creating nanoclusters with rearrangement ability. We believe that this concept constitutes a powerful strategy for the development of new and innovative nanostructures.