Chemical interactions at noble metal nanoparticle surfaces - Catalysis, sensors and devices

In this paper, a summary of some of the recent research efforts in our laboratory on chemical interactions at noble metal nanoparticle surfaces is presented. The article is divided into five sections, detailing with (i) interactions of simple halocarbons with gold and silver nanoparticle surfaces at room temperature by a new chemistry and the exploitation of this chemistry in the extraction of pesticides from drinking water, (ii) interaction of biologically important proteins such as Cyt c, hemoglobin and myoglobin as well as a model system, hemin with gold and silver nanoparticles and nanorods forming nano-bio conjugates and their surface binding chemistry, (iii) formation of polymer-nano composites with tunable optical properties and temperature sensing characteristics by single and multi-step methodologies, (iv) nanomaterials-based flow sensors and (v) composites of noble metal nanoparticles and metallic carbon nanotubes showing visible fluorescence induced by metal-semiconductor transition.