# Expedient Access to Gold/Quantum‐Dot Nanohybrids Mediated by Poly(ethylene Glycol) Ligands of Distinct Macromolecular Architecture

## TL;DR

This paper introduces a simple method to create hybrid gold and quantum dot nanoparticles using PEG ligands, enabling control over their structure and light properties.

## Contribution

A new method for assembling gold/quantum dot nanohybrids using PEG ligands without specialized functional groups.

## Key findings

- Quantum dots with ZnS shells can be incorporated into PEG brushes at gold NP surfaces via non-covalent interactions.
- Adjusting PEG ligand architecture allows control over interparticle spacing and photoluminescence properties.
- The method works for multiple types of core/shell quantum dots, showing its versatility.

## Abstract

We report a straightforward methodology to access structurally well‐defined hybrid assemblies of plasmonic and excitonic nanoparticles (NPs). The developed strategy is based on the incorporation of quantum dots (QDs) coated with zinc‐sulfide shells into poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) brushes at gold NP surfaces, without the necessity of incorporating specialized functional groups to drive the supracolloidal assembly. Based on control experiments involving PEGs with distinct polymeric architecture and Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy analysis, we attribute the structure formation to attractive interactions between the QD surface and the monomeric repeat unit of the PEG brushes. This combination leads to short interparticle spacings and plasmon/exciton interactions, resulting in photoluminescence (PL) quenching upon assembly. However, using block‐copolymers comprising a NP‐adjacent spacer block in addition to a NP‐remote PEG block, the distance between gold NPs and QDs can be controlled, which in turn affects the PL properties. The versatility of the structure‐formation approach is demonstrated by the possibility of applying it to two distinct core/shell QDs (InP/ZnSe/ZnS and CdSe/CdS/ZnS). This offers new perspectives in the quest for efficient nanomaterial fabrication procedures.

We demonstrate that distinct quantum dots with ZnS shells can be incorporated directly into poly(ethylene glycol) brushes at gold nanoparticle surfaces, based on non‐covalent interactions between the quantum‐dot surface and PEG monomer. The structure and photoluminescence properties of obtained gold/quantum‐dot conjugates can be engineered by adjusting the macromolecular design of the poly(ethylene glycol) ligands.