Kinetic Analysis of Reversible Aggregation in Redox-Active Nanoparticle Systems

The study of multivalent systems is an important field of research in systems chemistry and supramolecular chemistry, as it can help us understand how complexity arises from the cooperation between molecules, leading to the development of new chemical properties that emerge from the system itself rather than from the single components. In this thesis, a system of redox-active gold nanoparticles functionalized with viologen molecules was studied; the nanoparticles were synthesized and characterized using TGA, DLS, and TEM. Studies on the system, specifically on the aggregation kinetics of the nanoparticles, were conducted using UV-Vis spectroscopy. A theoretical model was developed to describe the system’s behavior. Various kinetic profiles were obtained under different experimental conditions, allowing for a description of the aggregation and disaggregation dynamics of the nanoparticles; furthermore, the theoretical simulations successfully captured some aspects of the behavior observed experimentally.