Facile synthesis of asymmetric patchy Janus Ag/Cu particles and study of their antifungal activity

Abstract

Asymmetric patchy Ag/Cu Janus nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized via a “seed-mediated” approach. This is the first report of synthesis of nanometer sized metal-based Janus NPs without using complicated methods. Selective adsorption of the surfactant onto the seed NPs leads to the formation of Janus type structure. Subsequently the reduction potential of Ag⁺/Ag⁰ and Cu²⁺/Cu⁰ systems directs the formation of the “patch”. The patchy Janus NPs show significant antifungal activity towards a potent rice pathogen thus offering the prospect of future application in crop protection.

Keywords

patchy Janus nanoparticle / seed mediated method / CTAB / antifungal activity

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Disclosure of potential conflicts of interests

The authors declare no potential conflicts of interests.

Acknowledgements

S. De thanks Science and Engineering Research Board, Govt. of India, New Delhi for generous grant of the research project (File no. EMR/2014/000435) and University of Kalyani for infrastructural support. S. Sarkar acknowledges DST, India for the financial support provided through an INSPIRE Fellowship (IF160188). The authors thank Dr. A. Gayen, Dept. of Chemistry, Jadavpur University for help with the powder XRD measurements. Prof. T. K. Basu, Dept. of biochemistry, University of Kalyani is acknowledged for letting us use the DLS facility. CRF, IIT Kharagpur and Bose Institute, Kolkata are acknowledged for the TEM and SEM measurements respectively.

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