Abstract
We report a facile approach for the controlled synthesis and characterization graphene oxide (GO)-silver nanoparticle (AgNP) hybrid nanostructure. Materials properties, including physical size, number concentration, colloidal stability, surface charge, mass, and conformation of GO-AgNP, were characterized successfully by a combination of electrospray-differential mobility analysis, aerosol particle mass analyzer, transmission electron microscopy, and zeta potential analysis. The results show that the nanohybrids were successfully fabricated. The mobility size, size distributions, mass of nanohybrids and the number of AgNPs and GOs per hybrid were tunable by choosing the number concentration ratios of AgNPs to GOs. The mass of nanohybrids was found to be proportional to mobility size of nanohybrids, indicating that the number of AgNP per hybrid is proportional to dp,m. Colloidal stability of nanohybrids was evaluated through the change of dp,m, and absolute zeta potential. Fast agglomeration was found when the absolute zeta potential of nanohybrids was below 10 mV and /or (defined as |(IEP + pKa)/2 – pH|) < 1.75. The work presented here provides a proof of concept for systematically synthesizing of GO-AgNP, with the ability in characterization, which has shown to be promising for biomedical applications.