Junwei Gu, Lei Wang, Chaobo Liang, Qiang Zhuang, Jie Kong.Controlled shell on nanoparticles as a tool to regulate the properties of immobilized molecules. Journal of Alloys and Compounds,2018, 745: 430–435. 2016IF=3.133.

Abstract

Tuning functions of organic molecules is a remaining challenge in versatile applications. Here, we demonstrated the pKa of 11- mercaptoundecanoic acid can be subtly tuned by the gold shell thickness of Fe2O3@Au core-shell nanoparticles. Based on titration results, the rebalance of the electrostatic and vdW interactions on nanoparticles was proposed as a mechanism for regulating the pKa of 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid on nanoparticles. Further, the simulation by DLVO theory validated our mechanism, and thus offering a potential route to tune the functions of organic molecules.