Shape variations and control in self-assembled metal nanoclusters

The selective interaction of metal clusters with various polymers constitutes the basis for the self-assembly approach to the synthesis of organic-inorganic hybrid materials, that leads to the control of particle size, geometry and dispersion gradient. Metal particles were synthesized by the thermal decomposition of an organometallic precursor, in this case, iron pentacarbonyl, in the presence of a polymer matrix. Under the conditions utilized for these reactions, the aggregation of the metallic clusters competed with the interactions between the growing metal fragments and the polymer matrix. The dominance of one reaction route as compared to the other, ultimately determined the equilibrium particle shape, size and distribution for each metal-polymer system. In this work, we attempted to analyze the formation of iron oxide nanoclusters in several structurally-distinct polymers, and developed a general mechanistic view to explain the characteristics of the polymer-metal oxide hybrid materials that were obtained.