Michelle Low

Janus Au‐TiO2 Photocatalysts with Strong Localization of Plasmonic Near‐Fields for Efficient Visible‐Light Hydrogen Generation

The first use of non-centrosymmetric Janus Au-TiO(2) photocatalysts in efficient, plasmon-enhanced visible-light hydrogen generation is demonstrated. The intense localization of plasmonic near-fields close to the Au-TiO(2) interface, coupled with optical transitions involving localized electronic states in amorphous TiO(2) brings about enhanced optical absorption and the generation of electron-hole pairs for photocatalysis.

Protein Induces Layer-by-Layer Exfoliation of Transition Metal Dichalcogenides

Here, we report a general and facile method for effective layer-by-layer exfoliation of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) and graphite in water by using protein, bovine serum albumin (BSA) to produce single-layer nanosheets, which cannot be achieved using other commonly used bio- and synthetic polymers. Besides serving as an effective exfoliating agent, BSA can also function as a strong stabilizing agent against reaggregation of single-layer nanosheets for greatly improving their biocompatibility in biomedical applications. With significantly increased surface area, single-layer MoS2 nanosheets also exhibit a much higher binding capacity to pesticides and a much larger specific capacitance. The protein exfoliation process is carefully investigated with various control experiments and density functional theory simulations. It is interesting to find that the nonpolar groups of protein can firmly bind to TMD layers or graphene to expose polar groups in water, facilitating the effective exfoliation of single-layer nanosheets in aqueous solution. The present work will enable to optimize the fabrication of various 2D materials at high yield and large scale, and bring more opportunities to investigate the unique properties of 2D materials and exploit their novel applications.

Effective Targeted Photothermal Ablation of Multidrug Resistant Bacteria and Their Biofilms with NIR-Absorbing Gold Nanocrosses.

With the rapid evolution of antibiotic resistance in bacteria, antibiotic-resistant bacteria (in particular, multidrug-resistant bacteria) and their biofilms have been becoming more and more difficult to be effectively treated with conventional antibiotics. As such, there is a great demand to develop a nonantibiotic approach in efficiently eliminating such bacteria. Here, multibranched gold nanocrosses with strong near-infrared absorption falling in the biological window, which heat up quickly under near-infrared-light irradiation are presented. The gold nanocrosses are conjugated to secondary and primary antibodies for targeting PcrV, a type III secretion protein, which is uniquely expressed on the bacteria superbug, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The conjugated gold nanocrosses are capable of completely destroying P. aeruginosa and its biofilms upon near-infrared-light irradiation for 5 min with an 800 nm laser at a low power density of ≈3.0 W cm(-2) . No bacterial activity is detected after 48 h postirradiation, which indicates that the heat generated from the irradiated plasmonic gold nanocrosses attached to bacteria is effective in eliminating and preventing the re-growth of the bacteria. Overall, the conjugated gold nanocrosses allow targeted and effective photothermal ablation of multidrug-resistant bacteria and their biofilms in the localized region with reduced nonspecific damage to normal tissue.

Convenient purification of gold clusters by co-precipitation for improved sensing of hydrogen peroxide, mercury ions and pesticides

An effective separation process is developed to remove free protein from the protein-protected gold clusters via co-precipitation with zinc hydroxide on their surface. After dialysis, the purified clusters exhibit an enhanced fluorescence for improved sensitive detection and selective visualization.

Evaluation of Polymeric Nanoparticle Formulations by Effective Imaging and Quantitation of Cellular Uptake for Controlled Delivery of Doxorubicin

Various polymeric nanoparticles have been extensively engineered for applications in controlled drug release delivery in the last decades. Currently, there is a great demand to develop a strategy to qualitatively and quantitatively evaluate these polymeric nanoparticle formulations for producing innovative delivery systems. In this work, a screening platform is developed using luminescent quantum dots as drug model and imaging label to evaluate nanoparticle formulations incorporating either hydrophilic or hydrophobic drugs and imaging agents. It is validated that there is no influence of the incorporated entities on the cellular uptake profile. The use of quantum dots enables efficient detection and precise quantitation of cellular uptake of particles which occupy 25% of the cell volume. The correlation of quantum dot- and doxorubicin-incorporated nanoparticles is useful to develop an evaluation platform for nanoparticle formulations through imaging and quantitation. This platform is also used to observe the surface properties effect of other polymers such as chitosan and poly(ethylene) glycol on the cellular interaction and uptake. Moreover, quantum dots can be used to study microparticle theranostic delivery formulations by deliberately incorporating as visible ring surrounding the microparticles for their easy identifying and tracing in diagnostic and chemotherapeutic applications.

Destabilization of Gold Clusters for Controlled Nanosynthesis: From Clusters to Polyhedra

A precisely controlled destabilization of gold thiolate clusters is demonstrated to grow 12 {110}-faceted gold dodecahedra with greatly enhanced catalytic capability, and reveal the growth mechanism by DFT simulations. This greatly advances our understanding of nanocrystal growth and opens a new window for controlling the dissociation of clusters to produce nanocrystals with specific shapes.

Investigative Study of Nucleic Acid-Gold Nanoparticle Interactions Using Laser-based Techniques, Electron Microscopy, and Resistive Pulse Sensing with a Nanopore

In this study, we employ a range of analytical tools to study the interactions between a mixed base peptide nucleic acid (PNA, 22-mer) probe and gold nanoparticles (AuNP). The binding of charge neutral PNA to citrate capped AuNP (50 nm) causes the particles to change size and/or aggregation/dispersion status in a PNA concentration-dependent manner. Under a UV-vis spectrophotometer, AuNP aggregation can be detected at PNA concentrations as high as 400 nm. Using dynamic light scattering measurement, the changing of particle sizes can be detected at a relatively low PNA concentration of 50 nm. Using a resistive pulse sensor, i.e. nanopore-based sensing platform, a particle-by-particle measurement technique, subtle changes of the AuNP size induced by PNA at very low concentrations of 5 nm can be identified. Transmission electron microscopy measurement confirmed that at very low PNA concentration, a small population of particles form a nano-assembly of NP clusters. Based on the fact that hybridization of PNA probe with target DNA is able to retard particle aggregation, we can quantify specific DNA sequences with a limit of detection ranging from 10 nm to 1 nm, depending on the characterization tools used. With this study, we show that as a complementary technique, the resistive pulse nanopore-based sensing platform provides significant resolution advantages for metal nanoparticle measurement as compared with light-based techniques.

Fluorogenic Quantification of Albumin

By optimising various fluorogenic dyes, non-fluorescent fluorescamine can react with primary amines to form highly fluorescent products, which is a simple, fast, and sensitive method for the quantification of albumin. The effects of pH, temperature, and chemicals were studied systematically to quantify albumin. The quantification method is more sensitive at alkaline pHs, affording measurement of proteins concentrations as low as 15 µg mL–1. Denaturation of albumin at elevated temperatures and/or use of chemicals, such as ethanol and acetone, can greatly improve the sensitivity of the albumin detection method. The simple, accurate, and reliable analysis of albumin contents under favourable conditions can be developed as an important method for early diagnosis of kidney disease.