Ingenieurwissenschaften und zugeordnete Tätigkeiten
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Over the last decade nanoparticles are progressively included in products of our daily life. Due to their antimicrobial properties, silver nanoparticles are used in a high variety of consumer products ranging from food containers over medicine and textiles. Therefore, research on the toxicological potential of nanosilver becomes increasingly important. This includes investigations concerning uptake, distribution and excretion of the particles. However, little attention was paid to changes of physical and chemical properties of the particles in the human body. One of the most important questions is if the particles can pass the digestion process without altering their shape and size. In this study we report on a versatile system of ultra-small silver nanoparticles with a mean volume weighted radius of 3.1 nm and a narrow size distribution width of 20%. The nanoparticles’ coating of poly (acrylic acid) can easily be exchanged by biocompatible ligands like albumin or glutathione. The particles are thoroughly characterized by small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), DLS, IR and UV/Vis spectroscopy. We used the particles in an artificial digestion procedure which mimics the gastro-intestinal passage (Figure 1). Thereby the changes in the size distribution during the digestion process were analytically monitored by SAXS. Additionally, we used as food components oil, starch, skimmed milk powder and mixture thereof to provide a preferably realistic environment. Large aggregates of up to 56 nm were formed in the absence of food additives. In contrast, the presence of oil and starch limit the radii of aggregates to about 10 nm. Milk powder shows strong protective properties resulting in only small aggregates of 6 nm radii. Our results indicate that silver can indeed pass the digestion process in a nanoscale form depending on the nanoparticle coating and additional ingredients. These results have an impact on future toxicological considerations regarding silver nanoparticle-containing consumer products.
Ever since increasing a reaction’s yield while shortening the reaction time is the main objective in synthesis optimization. Microwave reactors meet these demands. In literature however their usage is under discussion due to claims of the existence of non-thermal effects resulting from the microwave radiation. Especially for nano-material syntheses it is of crucial importance to be aware of influences on the reaction pathway. Therefore, we compare ultra-small silver nanoparticles with mean radii of 3 nm, synthesized via conventional and microwave heating. We employed a versatile one-pot polyol synthesis of poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) stabilized silver nanoparticles, which display superior catalytic properties. No microwave specific effects in terms of particle size distribution characteristics, as derived by small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and dynamic light scattering (DLS), are revealed. Due to the microwave reactor’s characteristics of a closed system, syntheses can be carried out at temperatures beyond the solvent’s boiling point. Particle formation was accelerated by a factor of 30 by increasing the reaction temperature from 200 °C to 250 °C. The particle growth process follows a cluster coalescence mechanism. A post-synthetic incubation step at 250 °C induces a further growth of the particles while the size distribution broadens. Thus, utilization of microwave reactors enables an enormous decrease of the reaction time as well as the opportunity of tuning the particles’ size. Possibly, decomposition of the stabilizing ligand at elevated temperatures results in reduced yields. A temperature of 250 °C and a corresponding reaction time of 30 s represent a compromise between short reaction times and high yields.
Silver nanoparticles are one of the most widespread consumer related nanoparticles worldwide. Since the particles show special optical and antibacterial properties they are used for a wide range of applications from biological investigations over medical applications and catalysis. Especially the outstanding question of applicable alternatives for catalysts in diverse reactions can be addressed with the design of versatile system of small silver nanoparticles. In this study we present the synthesis and application of ultra-small silver nanoparticles with a narrow size distribution (R = 3.1 nm, σ = 0.6 nm). The particles are thoroughly characterized by small angle X-ray scattering, dynamic light scattering and UV/Vis spectroscopy. As a representative test reaction the reduction of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol was chosen. The particles show a catalytic activity of (436 ± 24) L g-1 s-1, which is two orders of magnitude higher than for other silver particles in the literature. The particles surrounding shell, composed of poly(acrylic acid), provides the particles with a good accessibility for the reactants. Since the catalytic activity strongly depends on the surrounding ligand, the particles shell can also be exchanged by other ligands enabling a tuning of the catalytic activity to a desired value. This shows the high flexibility of this system which can also be applied for other catalytic reactions.
The elucidation of mechanisms underlying the cellular uptake of nanoparticles (NPs) is an important topic in nanotoxicological research. Most studies dealing with silver NP uptake provide only qualitative data about internalization efficiency and do not consider NP-specific dosimetry. Therefore, we performed a comprehensive comparison of the cellular uptake of differently coated silver NPs of comparable size in different human intestinal Caco-2 cell-derived models to cover also the influence of the intestinal mucus barrier and uptake-specialized M-cells. We used a combination of the Transwell system, transmission electron microscopy, atomic absorption spectroscopy, and ion beam microscopy techniques. The computational in vitro sedimentation, diffusion, and dosimetry (ISDD) model was used to determine the effective dose of the particles in vitro based on their individual physicochemical characteristics. Data indicate that silver NPs with a similar size and shape show coating-dependent differences in their uptake into Caco-2 cells. The internalization of silver NPs was enhanced in uptake-specialized M-cells while the mucus did not provide a substantial barrier for NP internalization. ISDD modeling revealed a fivefold underestimation of dose–response relationships of NPs in in vitro assays. In summary, the present study provides dosimetry-adjusted quantitative data about the influence of NP coating materials in cellular uptake into human intestinal cells. Underestimation of particle effects in vitro might be prevented by using dosimetry models and by considering cell models with greater proximity to the in vivo situation, such as the M-cell model.
The breadth of applications of nanoparticles and the access to food-associated consumer products containing nanosized materials lead to oral human exposure to such particles. In biological fluids nanoparticles dynamically interact with biomolecules and form a protein corona. Knowledge about the protein corona is of great interest for understanding the molecular effects of particles as well as their fate inside the human body. We used a mass spectrometry-based toxicoproteomics approach to elucidate mechanisms of toxicity of silver nanoparticles and to comprehensively characterize the protein corona formed around silver nanoparticles in Caco-2 human intestinal epithelial cells. Results were compared with respect to the cellular function of proteins either affected by exposure to nanoparticles or present in the protein corona. A transcriptomic data set was included in the analyses in order to obtain a combined multiomics view of nanoparticle-affected cellular processes. A relationship between corona proteins and the proteomic or transcriptomic responses was revealed, showing that differentially regulated proteins or transcripts were engaged in the same cellular signaling pathways. Protein corona analyses of nanoparticles in cells might therefore help in obtaining information about the molecular consequences of nanoparticle treatment.
Creating the Silver Standard: Development of a Silver Nanoparticle Reference Material using SAXS
(2017)
The utilization of silver nanoparticles in consumer related products has significantly increased over the last decade, especially due to their antimicrobial properties. Today they are used in a high variety of products, which ranges from food containers over children toys and textiles. Therefore, research on the toxicological potential of silver in a nanoscale form becomes increasingly important for a high amount of studies. Unfortunately the results of these studies are extremely diverse and do not lead to a consistent evaluation of the toxicity of silver nanoparticles. The central problem lies in the use of a wide range of silver nanoparticles, which show a broad size distribution. To overcome this problem we report on the synthesis of ultra-small silver nanoparticles and their quantitative characterization by small-angle X-ray scattering. The particles are highly stable and show no aggregation for more than six months. SAXS analysis via a Monte Carlo data evaluation procedure reveal a narrow size distribution of the silver cores with a mean volume weighted radius of 3.0 nm and a distribution width of 0.6 nm. Dynamic light scattering provides a hydrodynamic radius of 10.0 nm and a PDI of 0.09. The particles are stabilized with poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) forming a shell with a thickness of 7.0 nm. It is foreseen to use these thoroughly characterized particles as reference material to compare the catalytic and biological properties of functionalized silver nanoparticles. As a first step the particles are used in the first world-wide inter-laboratory comparison of SAXS. This study reveals that SAXS shows highly reproducible results for particles in the sub-20 nm region independently on the type of instrument used. Furthermore, the stabilizing ligand PAA can be easily exchanged by biomolecules to modify the surface functionality. Replacements of PAA with glutathione (GSH) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) have been performed as examples. With this flexible system first applications regarding biological application in an artificial digestion procedure have been performed. Thereby the changes in size distribution and aggregation state were monitored by SAXS.
This paper presents the first worldwide inter-laboratory comparison of small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) for nanoparticle sizing. The measurands in this comparison are the mean particle radius, the width of the size distribution and the particle concentration. The investigated sample consists of dispersed silver nanoparticles, surrounded by a stabilizing polymeric shell of poly(acrylic acid). The silver cores dominate the X-ray scattering pattern, leading to the determination of their radius size distribution using (i) the generalized indirect Fourier transformation method, (ii) classical model fitting using SASfit and (iii) a Monte Carlo fitting approach using McSAS. The application of these three methods to the collected data sets from the various laboratories produces consistent mean number- and volume-weighted core radii of Rn = 2.76 (6) nm and Rv = 3.20 (4) nm, respectively. The corresponding widths of the lognormal radius distribution of the particles were σn = 0.65 (1) nm and σv = 0.71 (1) nm. The particle concentration determined using this method was 3.0 (4) g l−1 or 4.2 (7) × 10−6 mol l−1. These results are affected slightly by the choice of data evaluation procedure, but not by the instruments: the participating laboratories at synchrotron SAXS beamlines, commercial and in-house-designed instruments were all able to provide highly consistent data. This demonstrates that SAXS is a suitable method for revealing particle size distributions in the sub-20 nm region (at minimum), out of reach for most other analytical methods.
SAXS for the determination of the size distribution of nanoparticles: Application in catalysis
(2017)
The open source software packages SASfit1 and McSAS2 are widely used to determine the size distribution of nanoparticles. SASfit is based on classical curve fitting. The type of size distribution needs to be provided as constraint for analysis. Very often the lognormal size distribution is useful as shown for the characterization of single- and multimodal magnetic iron oxide particles. The use of SASfit is part of efforts to standardize analyzing methods for magnetic nanoparticles within the EU project NanoMag (www.nanomag-project.eu). In contrast to SASfit, it is not necessary to provide the type of size distribution when using the program McSAS. Both programs provide tools that allow the user to estimate uncertainties of the derived size distributions. Such is helpful in the development of nanoscale reference materials for environmental, health and safety measurements. As an example, a detailed study on using SAXS in the characterization of ultra-small-silver nanoparticles is presented. These particles are useful in the catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol and display an adjustable activity (see Figure).
Figure. Core-shell silver nanoparticles catalyze the reduction of 4-nitrophenol and display an increasing catalytic activity when stabilized with different ligands in the line bovine serum albumin (BSA), glutathione (GSH) and polyacrylic acid (PAA).5