Starlike Copolymer Nanoreactors for the Controlled Preparation of Highly Uniform Liquid Metal Nanoparticles

Liquid-metal nanoparticles (LM NPs) are highly promising for diverse applications, including thermal management, flexible electronics, etc. However, controlled preparation of colloidal LM NPs with a narrow size distribution and small diameter via conventional methods was still challenging. Herein, we reported a robust route to fabricate highly uniform gallium/indium (EGaIn) NPs utilizing starlike poly(4-vinylpyridine)- b -polystyrene (P4VP- b -PS) copolymers as nanoreactors. Ultrafine EGaIn nanodroplets caused by ultrasonication diffused into the inner blocks of copolymer nanoreactors and were anchored to P4VP blocks, because of the coordination ability of pyridine groups, eventually forming nanoparticles in nanoreactors. Judiciously designed copolymer nanoreactors not only enabled efficient nanoparticle size manipulation but also endowed nanoparticles with superior colloidal stability due to outer PS blocks. In addition, EGaIn NPs exhibited an interesting size-dependent photothermal conversion property and enhanced catalytic property for atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) compared to bulk EGaIn, suggesting their great potential in plasmonic and catalytic applications.