Hydrothermal synthesis of gold nanoparticles and metal organic framework hybrid structure

Abstract

We report a hydrothermal synthesis of a hybrid structure between gold nanoparticles and a metal organic framework, ZIF-8 (abbreviated as Au@ZIF-8). Au nanoparticles encapsulated in polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) was employed as seeds to grow the framework of ZIF-8. We controlled the position and concentrations of Au nanoparticles on ZIF-8 crystal by adjusting the volume of Au nanoparticles dissolved in DI water during the growth of ZIF-8. Morphology, structure, distribution of the hybrid structure were investigated by transmission microscope, powder xray diffraction, and diffuse reflectance UV-Vis spectroscopy. We tested out catalytic properties of Au@ZIF-8 through the reaction of 2-nitrophenol and NaBH4.