Gold Raspberry-Like Colloidosomes Prepared at the Water-Nitromethane Interface

Here, we propose a simple shake-flask method to produce micron-size colloidosomes from a liquid-liquid interface functionalized with a gold nanoparticle film. A step-by-step extraction process of an organic phase partially miscible with water led to the formation of raspberry-like structures covered and protected by a gold nanofilm. The distinctive feature of the prepared colloidosomes is a very thin shell consisting of small gold nanoparticles of 12 or 38 nm in diameter instead of several hundred nanometers reported previously. The interesting and remarkable property of the proposed approach is its reversibility: the colloidosomes may be easily transformed back to a nanofilm-state simply by adding pure organic solvent. The obtained colloidosomes have a broadband absorbance spectrum, which makes them of great interest in such applications as photothermal therapy and Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy studies as well as microreactor vesicles for interfacial electrocatalysis.