Search results for " Nanoparticle"

Colorimetric gas detection by the varying thickness of a thin film of ultrasmall PTSA-coated TiO2 nanoparticles on a Si substrate

2017

Financial support from the Estonian Research Council (IUT2-25, PUT170, PUT1096, PUT748, PUTJD680), the Estonian Centre of Excellence in Research Projects “Advanced materials and high-technology devices for sustainable energetics, sensorics and nanoelectronics” TK141 (2014-2020.4.01.15-0011), “Emerging orders in quantum and nanomaterials” TK134 and the Development Fund of the University of Tartu, are all gratefully acknowledged.

Plasmonic layers based on Au-nanoparticle-doped TiO2 for optoelectronics: structural and optical properties.

2013

The anti-reflective effect of dielectric coatings used in silicon solar cells has traditionally been the subject of intensive studies and practical applications. In recent years the interest has permanently grown in plasmonic layers based on metal nanoparticles, which are shown to increase light trapping in the underlying silicon. In the present work we have combined these two concepts by means of in situ synthesis of Au nanoparticles in a dielectric matrix (TiO2), which is commonly used as an anti-reflective coating in silicon solar cells, and added the third element: a 10–20% porosity in the matrix. The porosity is formed by means of a controllable wet etching by low concentration HF. As …

The Antimicrobial Action of Silver Halides in Calcium Phosphate

2014

Silver halides represent a yet unexplored avenue for imparting antimicrobial activity to calcium phosphates. Negtively charged silver halide colloids (AgI, AgBr and AgCl) were added to synthesized amorphous calcium phosphate. Concurrent melting of silver halides and crystallization to carbonated apatite at 700 oC increased the silver halide surface area available to bacteria and formed a lower solubility apatite. The effect of the matrix solubility on antimicrobial response could then be investigated. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was more sensitive to silver iodide and silver bromide than Staphylococcus aureus. Silver iodide demonstrated greater activity than silver bromide. Silver chloride did n…

Mapping the polarization pattern of plasmon modes reveals nanoparticle symmetry.

2008

We study the wavelength and polarization dependent plasmon resonances of single silver and gold nanorods, triangles, cubes, and dimers with a novel single particle spectroscopy method (RotPOL). In RotPOL, a rotating wedge-shaped polarizer encodes the full polarization information of each particle within one image. This reveals the symmetry of the particles and their plasmon modes, allows analyzing inhomogeneous samples and the monitoring of particle shape changes during growth in situ.

Visible luminescence peculiar to sintered silica nanoparticles: Spectral and decay properties

2015

We report that the sintering at 1000 degrees C of silica nanoparticles (an average diameter of 14 nm) produces a transparent sample that exhibits a bright visible emission under UV excitation. The use of time resolved luminescence spectroscopy and a tunable laser source allows us to single out three contributions centered at 1.96 eV, 2.41 eV and 3.43 eV. The excitation spectra of these emissions evidence bell shaped bands consistent with transitions between localized defects' states. For each emission we study the intensity and the lifetime in the temperature range from 300 K down to 10 K, thus evidencing the competition between radiative and non-radiative processes in the optical cycle of …

Stacking as a key property for creating nanoparticles with tunable shape: The case of squalenoyl-doxorubicin

2019

The development of elongated nanoparticles for drug delivery is of growing interest in recent years, due to longer blood circulation and improved efficacy compared to spherical counterparts. Squalenoyl-doxorubicin (SQ-Dox) conjugate was previously shown to form elongated nanoparticles with improved therapeutic efficacy and decreased toxicity compared to free doxorubicin. By using experimental and computational techniques, we demonstrate here that the specific physical properties of SQ-Dox, which include stacking and electrostatic interactions of doxorubicin as well as hydrophobic interactions of squalene, are involved in the formation of nanoassemblies with diverse elongated structures. We …

Conformational Changes and Charge Transfer in Biomolecules Resolved Using Dynamic Enhanced Raman Correlation Spectroscopy

2019

International audience; In this contribution, we report that conforma-tional changes of molecules that are often buried in a wide-distributed Gaussian distribution can be discerned by analyzing the dynamics of specific Raman lines. We investigate the pertinence of the auto-and cross-correlation functions applied to the dynamics of three Raman lines of an amino acid, the tryptophan. The cross-correlation between intensity and the Raman band is an indicator of the charge transfer during the diffusion limited reaction of tryptophan and the gold surface. The Pećlet number Pe can provide a valuable indicator of the convective and/or diffusive features of each Raman band. Adsorption induced confo…

The Mobility of Carbon Atoms in Graphitic Nanoparticles Studied by the Relaxation of Strain in Carbon Onions

2008

Toxicity of gold-nanoparticles: Synergistic effects of shape and surface functionalization on micromotility of epithelial cells

2010

Nanoparticle exposure is monitored by a combination of two label-free and non-invasive biosensor devices which detect cellular shape and viscoelasticity (quartz crystal microbalance), cell motility and the dynamics of epithelial cell-cell contacts (electric cell-substrate impedance sensing). With these tools we have studied the impact of nanoparticle shape on cellular physiology. Gold (Au) nanoparticles coated with CTAB were synthesized and studied in two distinct shapes: Spheres with a diameter of (43 ± 4) nm and rods with a size of (38 ± 7) nm × (17 ± 3) nm. Dose-response experiments were accompanied by conventional cytotoxicity tests as well as fluorescence and dark-field microscopy to v…

A new approach to assess gold nanoparticle uptake by mammalian cells: combining optical dark-field and transmission electron microscopy.

2012

Toxicological effects of nanoparticles are associated with their internalization into cells. Hence, there is a strong need for techniques revealing the interaction between particles and cells as well as quantifying the uptake at the same time. For that reason, herein optical dark-field microscopy is used in conjunction with transmission electron microscopy to investigate the uptake of gold nanoparticles into epithelial cells with respect to shape, stabilizing agent, and surface charge. The number of internalized particles is strongly dependent on the stabilizing agent, but not on the particle shape. A test of metabolic activity shows no direct correlation with the number of internalized par…