Pingyan Lei

Gas-phase production of gold-decorated silica nanoparticles

Gold-decorated silica nanoparticles were synthesized in a two-step process in which silica nanoparticles were produced by chemical vapor synthesis using tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) and subsequently decorated using two different gas-phase evaporative techniques. Both evaporative processes resulted in gold decoration of the silica particles. This study compares the mechanisms of particle decoration for a production method in which the gas and particles remain cool to a method in which the entire aerosol is heated. Results of transmission electron microscopy and visible spectroscopy studies indicate that both methods produce particles with similar morphologies and nearly identical absorption spectra, with peak absorption at 500-550 nm. A study of the thermal stability of the particles using heated-TEM indicates that the gold decoration on the particle surface remains stable at temperatures below 900 °C, above which the gold decoration begins to both evaporate and coalesce.

Hot-wire synthesis of gold nanoparticles

Gold nanoparticles were synthesized by a hot-wire generator at atmospheric pressure using a gold-platinum composite wire. At low gas flow velocities the nanoparticles were found to be agglomerates of partially sintered primary particles. By reducing the tube size via the insertion of a nozzle with a throat diameter of 3 mm, the hot-wire generator was found to produce small (<10 nm diameter) crystalline gold particles. Elemental and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis of the particles showed that they were composed of gold with no platinum impurity. Charging analysis of the “as-produced” nanoparticles showed that fewer than 10% of the particles were charged, but the charge fraction increased as the applied power increased, as did the ratio of negatively-to-positively-charged particles.

PEGylation of gold-decorated silica nanoparticles in the aerosol phase

Coating of gold-decorated silica nanoparticles with polyethylene glycol (PEG) was carried out in the aerosol phase. The process involves first functionalizing the nanoparticles at ~225 ° C with a bifunctional reactant, 2-mercaptoethanol (ME), for which one end is a thiol that attaches to the gold surface and the other end is a terminal hydroxyl group, and then introducing ethylene oxide (EO), which reacts at ~440 ° C with the hydroxyl group via a ring-opening polymerization to grow PEG. The morphology, elemental composition and surface chemistry of the PEGylated nanoparticles were characterized by means of transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy in scanning transmission electron microscopy, x-ray photoelectron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The increase in mobility diameter of the nanoparticles due to PEG growth was measured on-line by tandem differential mobility analysis. The PEG coating thickness was found to increase with increases in gold decoration density, flow rate of ME, and flow rate of EO. Coating thicknesses up to ~4.5 nm were measured on nanoparticles whose initial mobility diameter equaled 39 nm.

Gas-Phase Production of Multifunctional Composite Nanoparticles by Photoinduced Chemical Vapor Deposition

Nano-scale materials and devices allow for unique interactions that are not possible at larger scales. Magnetic particles below a critical size (∼10 nm) demonstrate distinctive behavior known as superparamagnetism, where particles do not exhibit any net magnetic force outside the presence of an external magnetic field. However, within an alternating magnetic field, as in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine, superparamagnetic particles give off heat as a result of Brownian and Neelian relaxation. Heat produced by the shifting pole orientation can raise the temperature of the tissue sufficient to cause cell death through necrosis or apoptosis [1]. Additionally, combinations of electrically conductive and insulating materials within a single nanoparticle give rise to surface plasmon resonance. The resonance of the plasmon absorption can be tuned based on the relative thicknesses of the two layers. These particles can be used to thermally ablate cancer cells if the resonance is tuned to absorb light from an infrared laser. The penetrating ability of the nanoparticles combined with their capacity to kill cells make them excellent candidates for treatment of conditions such as brain tumors and prostate cancer.Copyright