0000000000368769
AUTHOR
Odile Stéphan
A top-down synthesis route to ultrasmall multifunctional Gd-based Silica nanoparticles for theranostic applications
International audience; New, ultrasmall nanoparticles with sizes below 5 nm have been obtained. These small rigid platforms (SRP) are composed of a polysiloxane matrix with DOTAGA (1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-1-glutaric anhydride-4,7,10-triacetic acid)-Gd3+ chelates on their surface. They have been synthesised by an original top-down process: 1) formation of a gadolinium oxide Gd2O3 core, 2) encapsulation in a polysiloxane shell grafted with DOTAGA ligands, 3) dissolution of the gadolinium oxide core due to chelation of Gd3+ by DOTAGA ligands and 4) polysiloxane fragmentation. These nanoparticles have been fully characterised using photon correlation spectroscopy (PCS), transmission elec…
Probing Physical Properties of Confined Fluids within Individual Nanobubbles
Spatially resolved electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) in a scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) has been used to investigate as fluidic phase in nanoubbles embedded in a metallic Pd90Pt10 matrix. Using the 1s->2p excitation of the He atoms, maps of the He distribution, in particular of its density an pressure in bubbles of different diameter have been realized, thus providing an indication of the involved bubble formation mechanism. However, the short-range Pauli repulsion mechanism between electrons on neighboring atoms seems insufficient to interpret minute variations of the local local measurements performed at the interface between the metal and the He bubble. Simul…
Mapping the plasmonic response of gold nanoparticles embedded in TiO2thin films
We present the mapping of the plasmonic properties of gold nanoparticles that are embedded in a TiO2 thin film deposited over two different substrates, glass and silicon. An improved electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) imaging technique was used to extract plasmon maps with nanometre resolution. Several representative cases of randomly dispersed NPs have been examined to carefully evaluate surrounding effects on the optical response of such nanostructured material. Data were compared to analytical calculations and showed good agreement. These results validate previous structural and far-field optical results and provide a clear description of the optical phenomena that take place at a …
Photo-induced magnetic bistability in a controlled assembly of anisotropic coordination nanoparticles.
International audience; Anisotropic coordination nanoparticles of the photomagnetic network Cs(I)(2)Cu(II)(7)[Mo(IV)(CN)(8)](4) are obtained through a surfactant-free high-yield synthetic procedure in water. These particles are organised as Langmuir-Blodgett films with a preferential orientation of the nano-objects within the film that exhibit a magnetic bistability below 20 K with a very large coercivity due to an efficient photo-transformation.