Construction of ferrocene-containing nanomaterials via self-assembly of ferrocenyl hyperbranched polyethylene

Self-assembly of ferrocene-containing copolymers has been proved to be a convenient way to construct various functional nanomaterials. Thus, (hyperbranched polyethylene)- grafted -(poly(2-(methacryloyloxy)-ethyl ferrocenecarboxylate)) (HBPE- g -PFcEMA) was synthesized. It's self-assembly properties in the THF/ n -hexane solvent mixture and n -hexane were explored. In the THF/ n -hexane solvent mixture, spherical micelles were obtained at low concentration of HBPE- g -PFcEMA. However, at higher concentration, only irregular nanoparticles were observed. In contrast, the HBPE- g -PFcEMA micelles prepared in n -hexane by solvent diffusion method were with well-defined structures whether at low or high concentration of HBPE- g -PFcEMA. Furthermore, the nanostructures of these assemblies in n -hexane could be controlled to be sheet, hollow or patchy sphere simply by adjusting the concentration of HBPE- g -PFcEMA. Therefore, a novel and convenient way was provided to construct ferrocene-containing nanomaterials with various nanostructures from the same ferrocenyl hyperbranched copolymer by controlling its concentration. These ferrocene-containing nanomaterials might find their application as precursor in preparing functional iron oxide nanomaterials.