Synthesis of Gold Nanoflowers Encapsulated with Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-acrylic acid) Hydrogels.

In this work, hydrogel-coated gold nanoflowers (AuNFs@hydrogel) were facilely prepared. First, gold nanoflowers (AuNFs) were synthesized by reducing gold acid with ascorbic acid in the presence of chitosan biopolymers, and the chitosan-mediated AuNFs were subsequently conjugated with oleic acid with carboxylate groups. Finally, the olefin-conjugated AuNFs were encapsulated with P(NIPAM-co-AAC) hydrogels via a radical polymerization reaction with co-monomer ratio of [NIPAM:AAc = 91:9 wt%]. The encapsulated hydrogels had a lower critical solution temperature (LCST) slightly above the physiological temperature and demonstrated a thermo-sensitive variation of particle size. The hydrogel-coated AuNFs can be utilized as a promising thermo-responsive drug delivery system with a unique optical property. As-prepared samples were characterized by DLS, SEM, TEM, UV-vis and Zeta potential meter.