Synthesis of polydopamine nanoparticles

Biomass and biopolymers are non-toxic, selective, efficient, inexpensive and non-biodegradable[1]. So, several biopolymers can be used as adsorbent of pollutants [2]. One of biopolymers is dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter and a biogenic catecholamine that secreted from mussels [3]. In this study a simple and fast method was used for the synthesis of polydopamine nanoparticles (PD). PD nanoparticles (about 13 nm) were synthesized from dopamine solution (5 mg mL- 1) at alkaline pH (10 mM Tris, pH8.5 ) during 20 h. The obtained dark-brown solution was extracted to prepare very light polydopamine nanoparticales. Morphology and properties of nanostructured polydopaminewas characterized by XRD, FTIR and SEM analysis.