Dendritic fibrous nanosilica (DFNS) with a high surface area, stability, and ease of surface modification is successfully employed as a template to fabricate DFNS/Au nanohybrids. Au nanodots are initially synthesized by the selective reduction of Au i...
Dendritic fibrous nanosilica (DFNS) with a high surface area, stability, and ease of surface modification is successfully employed as a template to fabricate DFNS/Au nanohybrids. Au nanodots are initially synthesized by the selective reduction of Au ion by NaBH<sub>4</sub> on the surface of the DFNS after surface modification to form DFNS/Au dots. A seed-mediated growth method is used to controllably grow Au nanoparticles on the DFNS/Au dots to generateDFNS core-Au NPs shell nanoparticles (DFNS/Au NPs) and DFNS core-Au layer shell nanoparticles (DFNS/Au layers). The catalytic activities of DFNS/Au NPs and DFNS/Au layers in the 4-nitrophenol reduction reaction are compared.