**4. Conclusion and perspectives**

**Figure 14.** UV–Vis spectra of 0.1 mM AuCl4

262 Advanced Catalytic Materials - Photocatalysis and Other Current Trends


ions and prepared gold nanostructures in aqueous solution.

**Figure 15.** AFM images of height and 3D surface plot view with depth histogram of gold nanoparticles on mica pre‐

In addition, some other gold nanoparticles were synthesized by two bolaform cholesteryl imide derivatives with different lengths of ethyleneamine spacers at a liquid–liquid interface [45]. Spectral and morphological measurements indicated that both bolaform amphiphiles could act as both capping agents and reducing agents. To further characterize the prepared

pared from instant ultrasonic ethanol solution with SN2 to chloroaurate ion ratio of 2:1 after 35 h of reaction.

We are working on the preparation, self-assembly, and application of functionalized nano‐ composites and nanomaterials. In this chapter, various kinds of nanocomposites including graphene nanocomposites and gold nanoparticles have been designed and characterized. For preparation of graphene composites, hybridization with functional little organic molecules, polymers, and various metal oxides/salts have been achieved, and the self-assembly process and photocatalytic capacities have also been demonstrated. As for the synthesis of gold

**Figure 17.** Photocatalytic activities of gold nanoparticles by using two amphiphiles with amphiphile to chloroaurate ion ratio of 2:1 on the degradation of methyl orange.

nanoparticles, the different prepared conditions, such as LB films/bulk, molecular skeletons/ substituted headgroups, and kinds of template compounds, have been investigated to control and regulate the designed gold nanostructures. Thus, the photocatalytic behaviors of asobtained gold nanoparticles on dyes degradation were also characterized. The above-men‐ tioned research work may provide new and potential perspective for the preparation and analysis of nanocomposite and nanomaterials. In closing, in recent several decades, prepara‐ tion of novel nanocomposites are promising and emerging as attentive research platforms based on special properties and application fields. In addition, the self-assembly techniques belonging to supramolecular chemistry seem to be key subject in physical chemistry, related to various fundamental and scientific fields such as electron and energy transfer, organic electronics, catalysis engineering, and so on. Thus, the present preliminary research works only give a cursory browse of recent progress in this field. Future research orientation on synthesis of nanocomposites and nanomaterials would mainly focus on the special nanostruc‐ tures with less-expensive fabrication process to gain high-performance and low-cost nano‐ composite and nano-devices.

## **Acknowledgements**

The authors would like to extend their thanks to the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21473153, 21207112, and 51402253); the Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province (No. B2013203108); the Science Foundation for Excellent Youth Scholars from Universities and Colleges of Hebei Province (No. YQ2013026); the Support Program for the Top Young Talents of Hebei Province; the Scientific and Technological Research and Devel‐ opment Program of Qinhuangdao City (No. 201502A006); the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2015M580214); and Open Foundation of National Key Laboratory of Bio‐ chemical Engineering (Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences) for providing funds for this research.
