Large-scale fabrication and application of magnetite coated Ag NW-core water-dispersible hybrid nanomaterials.

In this work, we report a large scale synthetic procedure that allows attachment of magnetite nanoparticles onto Ag NWs in situ, which was conducted in a triethylene glycol (TREG) solution with iron acetylacetonate and Ag NWs as starting materials. The as-prepared Ag NW/Fe3O4 NP composites are well characterized by SEM, TEM, XRD, XPS, FT-IR, and VSM techniques. It was found that the mass ratio of iron acetylacetonate to Ag NWs plays a crucial role in controlling the amount of magnetite nanoparticles decorated on the Ag NWs. The resulting Ag NW/Fe3O4 NP composites exhibit superparamagnetic properties at room temperature, and can be well dispersed in aqueous and organic solutions, which is greatly beneficial for their application and functionality. Thus, the as-prepared magnetic silver nanowires show good catalytic activity, using the catalytic reduction of methylene blue (MB) as a model reaction. Furthermore, the Ag NW/Fe3O4 NP composites can be functionalized with polydopamine (Pdop), resorcinol-formaldehyde resin (PFR), and SiO2, respectively, in aqueous/ethanol solution. Meanwhile they can also be coated with polyphosphazene (PZS) in organic solution, resulting in a unique nanocable with well-defined core shell structures. Besides, taking Ag NW/Fe3O4@SiO2 as an example, a hollow magnetic silica nanotube can be obtained with the use of Ag NWs as physical templates and a solution of ammonium and H2O2. These can greatly improve the application of the Ag NW/Fe3O4 NP composites. The as-synthesized above nanocomposites have high potential for applications in the fields of polymers, wastewater treatment, sensors, and biomaterials.