A novel approach to the construction of core-shell gold-polyaniline nanoparticles

Uniform core-shell gold-polyaniline (Au-PANI) nanoparticles were successfully fabricated by in situ polymerization of aniline using poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-co-poly(acrylic acid) (PNIPAM-co-PAA)/AuNP hybrid microgel particles as a template. TEM images gave direct evidence of the core-shell nanostructure of Au-PANI particles, which were composed of gold nanoparticles as the core and polyaniline as the shell. The shell thickness of as-prepared core-shell Au-PANI nanoparticles can be easily tuned by controlling the reaction time. A possible mechanism for the formation of core-shell Au-PANI nanostructures was proposed. This novel synthetic method may be extended to the synthesis of other core-shell nanostructures with diverse functionality and high colloidal stability.