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The size, surface charge and agglomeration state of nanoparticles under physiological conditions are fundamental parameters to be determined prior to their application in toxicological studies. Although silica-based materials are among the most promising candidates for biomedical applications, more systematic studies concerning the characterisation before performing toxicological studies are necessary. This interest is based on the necessity to elucidate the mechanisms affecting its toxicity. We present here TEM, SAXS and SMPS as a combination of methods allowing an accurate determination of single nanoparticle sizes. For the commercial material, Ludox TM50 single particle sizes around 30 nm were found in solution. DLS measurements of single particles are rather affected by polydispersity and particles concentration but this technique is useful to monitor their agglomeration state. Here, the influence of nanoparticle concentration, ionic strength (IS), pH and bath sonication on the agglomeration behaviour of silica particles in solution has been systematically investigated. Moreover, the colloidal stability of silica particles in the presence of BSA has been investigated showing a correlation between silica and protein concentrations and the formation of agglomerates. Finally, the colloidal stability of silica particles in standard cell culture medium has been tested, concluding the necessity of surface modification in order to preserve silica as primary particles in the presence of serum. The results presented here have major implications on toxicity investigations because silica agglomeration will change the probability and uptake mechanisms and thereby may affect toxicity.
Cell cultures form the basis of most biological assays conducted to assess the cytotoxicity of nanomaterials.
Since the molecular environment of nanoparticles exerts influence on their physicochemical properties, it can have an impact on nanotoxicity. Here, toxicity of silica nanoparticles upon delivery by fluid-phase uptake is studied in a 3T3 fibroblast cell line. Based on XTT viability assay, cytotoxicity is shown to be a function of (1) particle concentration and (2) of fetal calf serum (FCS) content in the cell culture medium.
Application of dynamic light scattering shows that both parameters affect particle agglomeration. The DLS Experiments verify the stability of the nanoparticles in culture medium without FCS over a wide range of particle concentrations.
The related toxicity can be mainly accounted for by single silica nanoparticles and small agglomerates. In contrast, agglomeration of silica nanoparticles in all FCS-containing media is observed, resulting in a decrease of the associated toxicity. This result has implications for the evaluation of the cytotoxic potential of silica nanoparticles and possibly also other nanomaterials in standard cell culture.
Wet-chemically oxidized carbon nanotubes (CNTs) generally exhibit both covalently-bound acidic functional groups on the surface and surface-adsorbed acidic substances, i.e. carbonaceous CNT fragments from the oxidation procedure. Direct potentiometric titration of oxidizable high surface area materials with dynamically desorbing acidic fragments is slow and inaccurate. Adsorbed acidic fragments are deprotonated by sodium hydroxide and form anions in solution which is not the case for covalently bound acidic groups on the CNTs, so the following filtration after NaOH treatment separates desorbable acidic substances from non-desorbable or covalently bound groups. For a known concentration of NaOH, titration of the eluate with hydrochloric acid (HCl) allows determination of the concentrations of both types of acidities. However, contrary to reports in the literature, the NaOH consumed by non-desorbed acidic groups has to be accounted for and impedes distinction of desorbed acidic groups via their pKa values. Results are presented of a study on the information content and the reliability of indirect potentiometric Boehm titration for different oxidized multi-walled CNTs.
Automotive brake pads consist of many components but it is still not entirely clear which role each of the elements of this complex composition plays to provide the specified regimes of sliding. This is due to the mutual interaction of multiscale mechanisms, realized during the friction.
In this work we have attempted to partly answer this question using computer simulations. Since the simulation allows us to consider various combinations of the structure of the system being simulated ceteris paribus, it becomes possible to understand the role of each constituent sequentially. The main attention is paid to the structure and composition of the thin film that forms on the surface of both bodies as a result of compaction of the wear product, its chemical composition and oxidation. This layer, also named a third body or friction film, differs in composition and microstructure from the two first bodies. We considered a single contact for the steady state sliding when the structure and composition of friction films already are formed. As a modelling tool we used the method of movable cellular automata, which has well proven itself in solving of such tasks. We investigated the influence of modification of the structure and composition of the third body on the features of system behaviour at friction. To assess the adequacy of the numerical model, experimental studies with an artificial third body were also carried out. The Simulation results are in good agreement with experimental data.
A facile and versatile synthetic route for controlling the size and surface potential of organic–inorganic hybrid silica nanoparticles (NPs) is introduced in this paper. For polymer-grafted NPs, the density of polymer chains on the surface is strongly affected by the concentration of precursor. Nevertheless, for condensed NPs, the precursor concentration determines the particle size but not the density of polymer chains on the surface or the adsorption of bovine serum albumin (BSA). Results presented here may have Major implications in biomedical and colloidal chemistry since interfacial and colloidal properties are known to drive several processes associated with nanoparticles in biological media.
Synthesis and characterisation of highly fluorescent core-shell nanoparticles based on Alexa dyes
(2012)
Current and future developments in the
emerging field of nanobiotechnology are closely
linked to the rational design of novel fluorescent
nanomaterials, e.g. for biosensing and imaging applications.
Here, the synthesis of bright near infrared
(NIR)-emissive nanoparticles based on the grafting
of silica nanoparticles (SNPs) with 3-aminopropyl
triethoxysilane (APTES) followed by covalent attachment
of Alexa dyes and their subsequent shielding by an
additional silica shell are presented. These nanoparticles
were investigated by dynamic light scattering (DLS),
transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and fluorescence
spectroscopy. TEM studies revealed the monodispersity
of the initially prepared and fluorophorelabelled
silica particles and the subsequent formation of
raspberry-like structures after addition of a silica
precursor.Measurements of absolute fluorescence quantum
yields of these scattering particle suspensions with
an integrating sphere setup demonstrated the influence
of dye labelling density-dependent fluorophore aggregation
on the signaling behaviour of such nanoparticles.
We have developed a very fast and entirely gas-phase based purification technique for carbon nanotubes (CNT) that allows removing metal and metal oxide impurities with high effectiveness. CNT agglomerates from chemical vapor deposition (CVD) synthesis which contained carbon encapsulated catalysts were injected into an atmospheric plasma torch. Very high heating rates allow for quasi-instantaneous vaporization of catalyst particles. This way, metal vapors are hyposized to break mechanically instable encapsulations and effuse from incomplete ones faster than thermally induced graphitization stabilizes such particle encapsulations. The ash content of multi-walled (MW) CNT samples was reduced to less than 15% of the initial value within a few milliseconds. Also the metal content of single-walled (SW) CNT agglomerates was significantly reduced. Repeated injection of CNT agglomerates into the plasma torch resulted in higher-purity products of improved structural integrity and increased oxidation resistance.
Chemical functionalization of carbon nanotubes (CNT) with nucleophiles requires introduction of electrophilic reactive sites on the CNTs. This can, for instance, be accomplished by the chemical bromination procedure with elemental bromine and a set of Lewis acids (BBr3, BF3 × Et2O, AlBr3, FeBr3, ZnBr2, TiBr4, SiBr4, SnBr4, VBr3) or a radical starter like dibenzoylperoxide (DBPO) in appropriate solvents at varied temperature. The present approach to electrophilic sites relies on the well-known electrophilic aromatic substitution or addition of bromine with aromatic structural units. In addition to the use of bromine, the introduction of haloalkyl groups was also investigated here using bis-electrophiles or haloalcohols and Brønsted acids. The advantages and drawbacks of the studied reaction conditions, the obtained degree of bromination as analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and the amount of introduced bromine that can be substituted by a nucleophile are presented and discussed.
The study of protein corona formation on nanoparticles (NPs) represents an actual main issue in colloidal, biomedical and toxicological sciences. However, little is known about the influence of polymer shells on the formation and time evolution of protein corona onto functionalized NPs. Therefore, silicapoly(ethylene glycol) core–shell nanohybrids (SNPs@PEG) with different polymer molecular weights (MW) were synthesized and exhaustively characterized. Bovine serum albumin (BSA) at different concentrations (0.1–6 wt%) was used as model protein to study protein corona formation and time evolution. For pristine SNPs and SNPs@PEG (MW = 350 g/mol), zeta potential at different incubation times show a dynamical evolution of the nanoparticle–protein corona. Oppositely, for SNPs@PEG with MW ≥2000 g/mol a significant suppression of corona formation and time evolution was observed.
Furthermore, AFM investigations suggest a different orientation (side-chain or perpendicular) and Penetration depth of BSA toward PEGylated surfaces depending on the polymer length which may explain differences in protein corona evolution.
A model based on movable cellular automata has been applied to study the sliding behaviour of tribofilms formed during automotive braking. Since it is not possible yet to determine the composition of real tribofilms quantitatively, final verification of modelling results is needed. This was done by preparing artificial third bodies with compositions and nanostructures matching the ones assumed for modelling. Pin-on-disc tests were performed while applying the artificial third bodies to the contact. The results revealed that not only the structure of the third body but also the amount of the applied normal pressure determines the COF obtained by modelling and that much better correlation between experimental and modelling results was obtained while assuming high normal pressures at asperity contacts.