JP-2026514395-A - composite particles

Abstract

This disclosure relates to a method for producing composite particles. The method comprises contacting catalyst particles, an oxidizing agent, and a plurality of monomers. The oxidizing agent is a peroxide, persulfate, or ozone, and the catalyst particles are or comprise a material having Fenton or Fenton-like catalytic activity. The catalyst particles catalyze the disproportionation of the oxidizing agent to produce oxygen-radical species, which then initiate a polymerization reaction, thereby polymerizing the plurality of monomers and forming a polymer shell around the catalyst particles. The present invention extends to composite particles produced by the method, an apparatus containing the composite particles, and the use thereof.

Inventors

• パレツキー，サージー
• ザレスキー，クシシュトフ
• ガルシア クルズ，アルバロ
• ピレツカ，エレナ
• ウィットカム，マイケル

Assignees

• ユニバーシティ オブ レスター

Dates

Publication Date

20260511

Application Date

20240327

Priority Date

20230329

Claims (20)

1. A method for producing composite particles, comprising contacting catalyst particles, an oxidizing agent, and a plurality of monomers, wherein the oxidizing agent is a peroxide, persulfate, or ozone, and the catalyst particles are a material having Fenton or Fenton-like catalytic activity, or comprising such material, wherein the catalyst particles catalyze the disproportionation of the oxidizing agent to produce oxygen-radical species, thereby initiating a polymerization reaction, which in turn polymerizes the plurality of monomers, thereby forming a polymer shell around the catalyst particles.
2. The method according to claim 1, comprising contacting the catalyst particles, the oxidizing agent, and the plurality of monomers in a solution.
3. The method according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the composite particles are nanoparticles and the catalyst particles are nanoparticles.
4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the catalyst particles are not bound.
5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the catalyst particles are bonded to a substrate, and preferably the substrate is an optical fiber containing a polymer coating.
6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the catalyst particles include or consist of a metal, a metal alloy, a metal oxide, a metal salt, a semiconductor, a two-dimensional material, a fullerene, a carbon nanotube, a quantum dot, a carbon nanodot, a carbide, and/or a nitride.
7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the catalyst particles contain or consist of a metal or metal oxide, the metal being gold, silver, platinum, palladium, iron, nickel, zinc, chromium, titanium, zirconium, hafnium, vanadium, niobium, tantalum, molybdenum, or tungsten, and the metal oxide being iron oxide, aluminum oxide, titanium oxide, cerium oxide, zirconium oxide, hafnium oxide, vanadium oxide, niobium oxide, tantalum oxide, chromium oxide, molybdenum oxide, or tungsten oxide.
8. The method includes contacting a catalyst particle precursor, the oxidizing agent, and the plurality of monomers, wherein the catalyst particle precursor is configured to produce the catalyst particles. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, comprising, in a single step, producing catalyst particles and contacting the catalyst particles, the oxidizing agent, and the plurality of monomers.
9. The method according to claim 8, comprising a reagent capable of producing catalyst particles by oxidizing, reducing, or hydrolyzing the catalyst particle precursor, and an oxidizing agent, reducing agent, or hydrolyzing agent.
10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the reagent capable of producing the catalyst particles by oxidation, reduction, or hydrolysis is an inorganic salt, an acid, or a hydroxide, and the inorganic salt, the acid, or the hydroxide contains a metal cation.
11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, comprising contacting the catalyst particles, oxidizer, and a plurality of monomers in the presence of a template species such that the polymer shell is or contains a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP).
12. A composite particle obtained or obtainable by the method described in any one of claims 1 to 11.
13. The use of composite particles in detecting target molecules, wherein the composite particles include a polymer shell surrounding catalyst particles.
14. A method for detecting target molecules in a solution, Bringing the solution and composite particles into contact, This includes detecting the optical properties of the catalyst particles and thereby detecting the target molecules in the solution, A method wherein the composite particles include a polymer shell surrounding catalyst particles.
15. The method according to claim 12, wherein the optical property is surface plasmon resonance (SPR) absorption, localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) absorption, or fluorescence.
16. A method for detecting target molecules in a solution, Placing the electrode with the composite particles immobilized and further electrodes in a solution, Applying a voltage to the electrode, This includes measuring the electric current and thereby detecting the target molecule in the solution, A method wherein the composite particles include a polymer shell surrounding catalyst particles.
17. The method according to claim 16, wherein applying a voltage to the two electrodes and measuring the current includes applying differential pulsed voltammetry (DPV).
18. Use of composite particles in a lateral flow detector, wherein the composite particles include a polymer shell surrounding catalyst particles.
19. A lateral flow detector containing composite particles, wherein the composite particles include a polymer shell surrounding catalyst particles.
20. A method for detecting a target molecule in a sample, comprising: contacting the sample with the lateral flow detector described in claim 19; and observing whether or not a test line appears on the lateral flow detector, thereby detecting the target molecule in the sample.

Description

This invention relates to a method for producing composite particles. The invention extends to the composite particles themselves and methods for using them. In several fields, inorganic nanoparticles are technically important. In many applications, micro and nanomaterials possess properties not evident in bulk-phase materials, such as variable plasmon resonance, magnetic and optical properties, and others known to those skilled in the art. This leads to their use in diagnostic applications such as assays (e.g., magnetic bead assays, colorimetric and fluorescence assays, microarray assays, Luminex® Multiplex assays, and/or Beckman-Coulter assays), surface plasmon resonance (SPR), and electrochemical detectors. Furthermore, due to their small size and mobility, nanomaterials and microparticles can access sites such as tissues and even intracellular regions that would otherwise be inaccessible. However, the applications of unmodified inorganic micro and nanoparticles are limited by several factors, which must be overcome in order to unlock the unique properties of these materials. Micro and nanoparticles may be prepared by several methods. Regardless of how nanoparticles are prepared, a common characteristic of unmodified nanomaterials is their strong tendency to aggregate in solution due to their high surface energy and large interfacial surface area. This, along with poor biocompatibility and/or toxicity associated with their size, shape, and surface chemistry, as well as poor stability in complex biological environments, limits the potential applications of nanomaterials, for example, in vitro in immunoassays and lateral flow diagnostics, and in vivo in applications such as drug delivery, bioimaging, and therapeutic applications. Therefore, coating inorganic micro and nanoparticles with a layer of additional material to prevent aggregation by electrostatic or steric stabilization is advantageous or necessary. Coating nanoparticles can also allow the surface to be adapted to the specific application in which its use is intended. Furthermore, the coating may act as a carrier for other components. There are various strategies involving coating micro and nanoparticles, including silica, lipids, peptides, and polymers (Nune S.K., Gunda P., Thallapally P.K., Lin Y.-Y., Forrest M.L., Berkland C.J. Nanoparticles for biomedical imaging. Expert Opin. Drug Deliv., 2009, 6, 1175-1194). The addition of such coatings is a means of providing stabilization against aggregation, giving the substrate functionality suitable for immobilizing other components, enabling adapted recognition properties, or immobilizing polymers; organic polymers are particularly preferred in the majority of applications. There are many methods for coating micro and nanoparticles with robust, insoluble polymers for the purpose of altering their physical and chemical properties, particularly to change their dispersion and prevent aggregation. This may be achieved by treating synthesized nanoparticles with a pre-formed polymer that partially or completely replaces a low molar mass stabilizer, such as a citrate or surfactant, which is typically used during the initial nanoparticle synthesis process. In other cases, the polymer forms a secondary shell on top of the first stabilizing layer, instead of replacing it (Pellegrino T., Manna L., Kudera S., Liedl T., Koktysh D., Rogach A.L., Keller S., Radler J., Natile G., Park W.J. Hydrophobic nanocrystals coated with an amphiphilic polymer shell: a general route to water-soluble nanocrystals. Nano Lett. 2004, 4, 703-707). Functional core-shell nanoparticles with controlled thickness were prepared by a multilayer deposition technique using polymeric polyelectrolytes (Asapu R., Claes N., Bals S. et al. Silver-polymer core-shell nanoparticles for ultrastable plasmon-enhanced photocatalysis. Applied Catalysis B: Environmental. 2017, 200, 31-38). The polymer components may be strongly adsorbed onto the nanoparticle surface, chemically bonded, or crosslinked by physical, photochemical, or chemical treatment to form a stable coating, so as not to be released into the solution. Alternatively, the polymer coating may be formed by a polymerization process from monomers in the presence of nanoparticles, or from a mixture of monomers in the presence of micro and nanoparticles. However, the latter process may result in a mixture of products, such as free polymers formed in solution that are not associated with nanoparticles, requiring subsequent application of physical (dialysis), chemical (reduction, precipitation), and/or chromatographic separation techniques to separate the intended product. Furthermore, this process excludes the use of several monomers, particularly crosslinkers, because polymer formation in free solution can create insoluble gels and larger composite particles in addition to the intended nanocomposite. A far better approach is to ensure that polymers form only on or in close proximity to the nanopa