Magnetic gold nanotriangles by microwave-assisted polyol synthesis

Simple approaches to synthesize hybrid nanoparticles with magnetic and plasmonic functionalities, with high control of their shape and avoiding cytotoxic reactants, to target biomedical applications remain a huge challenge. Here, we report a facile, fast and bio-friendly microwave-assisted polyol route for the synthesis of a complex multi-material consisting of monodisperse gold nanotriangles around 280 nm in size uniformly decorated by superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles of 5 nm. These nanotriangles are readily dispersible in water, display a strong magnetic response (10 wt% magnetic fraction) and exhibit a localized surface plasmon resonance band in the NIR region (800 nm). Moreover, these hybrid particles can be easily self-assembled at the liquid-air interfaces.

Biochar accelerates organic matter degradation and enhances N mineralisation during composting of poultry manure without a relevant impact on gas emissions

A composting study was performed to assess the impact of biochar addition to a mixture of poultry manure and barley straw. Two treatments: control (78% poultry manure + 22% barley straw, dry weight) and the same mixture amended with biochar (3% dry weight), were composted in duplicated windrows during 19 weeks. Typical monitoring parameters and gaseous emissions (CO2, CO, CH4, N2O and H2S) were evaluated during the process as well as the agronomical quality of the end-products. Biochar accelerated organic matter degradation and ammonium formation during the thermophilic phase and enhanced nitrification during the maturation phase. Our results suggest that biochar, as composting additive, improved the physical properties of the mixture by preventing the formation of clumps larger than 70 mm. It favoured microbiological activity without a relevant impact on N losses and gaseous emissions. It was estimated that biochar addition at 3% could reduce the composting time by 20%.

C. elegans as a tool for in vivo nanoparticle assessment

Characterization of the in vivo behavior of nanomaterials aims to optimize their design, to determine their biological effects, and to validate their application. The characteristics of the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) advocate this 1mm long nematode as an ideal living system for the primary screening of engineered nanoparticles in a standard synthetic laboratory. This review describes some practicalities and advantages of working with C. elegans that will be of interest for chemists and materials scientists who would like to enter the "worm" community, anticipates some drawbacks, and offers relevant examples of nanoparticle assessment by using C. elegans.

Dual T1/T2 MRI contrast agent based on hybrid SPION@coordination polymer nanoparticles

A novel dual T₁/T₂¹H-MRI contrast agent based on the encapsulation of super-paramagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) with an iron coordination polymer is proposed.

Encapsulation of VEGF165into magnetic PLGA nanocapsules for potential local delivery and bioactivity in human brain endothelial cells

New drug delivery systems based on biodegradable magnetic nanocapsules for targeted delivery of pro-angiogenic proteins, potentially useful in therapeutic angiogenesis, are reported.

High concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (naphthalene, phenanthrene and pyrene) failed to explain biochar's capacity to reduce soil nitrous oxide emissions

The presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) has been postulated as a mechanism by which biochar might mitigate N(2)O emissions. We studied whether and to what extent N(2)O emissions were influenced by the three most abundant PAHs in biochar: naphthalene, phenanthrene and pyrene. We hypothesised that biochars contaminated with PAHs would show a larger N(2)O mitigation capacity and that increasing PAH concentrations in biochar would lead to higher mitigation potentials. Our results demonstrate that the high-temperature biochar (550 °C) had a higher capacity to mitigate soil N(2)O emissions than the low-temperature biochar (350 °C). At low PAH concentrations, PAHs do not significantly contribute to the reductions in soil N(2)O emissions; while biochar stimulated soil N(2)O emissions when it was spiked with high concentrations of PAHs. This study suggests that the impact of biochar on soil N(2)O emissions is due to other compositional and/or structural properties of biochar rather than to PAH concentration.

Rapid synthesis of water-dispersible superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles by a microwave-assisted route for safe labeling of endothelial progenitor cells

We synthesize highly crystalline citrate-coated iron oxide superparamagnetic nanoparticles that are stable and readily dispersible in water by an extremely fast microwave-assisted route and investigate the uptake of magnetic nanoparticles by endothelial cells. Nanoparticles form large aggregates when added to complete endothelial cell medium. The size of the aggregates was controlled by adjusting the ionic strength of the medium. The internalization of nanoparticles into endothelial cells was then investigated by transmission electron microscopy, magnetometry and chemical analysis, together with cell viability assays. Interestingly, a sevenfold more efficient uptake was found for systems with larger nanoparticle aggregates, which also showed significantly higher magnetic resonance imaging effectiveness without compromising cell viability and functionality. We are thus presenting an example of a straightforward microwave synthesis of citrate-coated iron oxide nanoparticles for safe endothelial progenitor cell labeling and good magnetic resonance cell imaging with potential application for magnetic cell guidance and in vivo cell tracking.

Multiferroic iron oxide thin films at room temperature

Multiferroic behaviour at room temperature is demonstrated in ε-Fe2 O3 . The simple composition of this new ferromagnetic ferroelectric oxide and the discovery of a robust path for its thin film growth by using suitable seed layers may boost the exploitation of ε-Fe2 O3 in novel devices.

Magnetically Decorated Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes as Dual MRI and SPECT Contrast Agents

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been proposed as one of the most promising nanomaterials to be used in biomedicine for their applications in drug/gene delivery as well as biomedical imaging. The present study developed radio-labeled iron oxide decorated multi-walled CNTs (MWNT) as dual magnetic resonance (MR) and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging agents. Hybrids containing different amounts of iron oxide were synthesized by in situ generation. Physicochemical characterisations revealed the presence of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION) granted the magnetic properties of the hybrids. Further comprehensive examinations including high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), fast Fourier transform simulations (FFT), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) assured the conformation of prepared SPION as γ-Fe2O3. High r2 relaxivities were obtained in both phantom and in vivo MRI compared to the clinically approved SPION Endorem®. The hybrids were successfully radio-labeled with technetium-99m through a functionalized bisphosphonate and enabled SPECT/CT imaging and γ-scintigraphy to quantitatively analyze the biodistribution in mice. No abnormality was found by histological examination and the presence of SPION and MWNT were identified by Perls stain and Neutral Red stain, respectively. TEM images of liver and spleen tissues showed the co-localization of SPION and MWNT within the same intracellular vesicles, indicating the in vivo stability of the hybrids after intravenous injection. The results demonstrated the capability of the present SPION-MWNT hybrids as dual MRI and SPECT contrast agents for in vivo use.

In vitro angiogenic performance and in vivo brain targeting of magnetized endothelial progenitor cells for neurorepair therapies

Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) represent a promising approach for cell-based therapies to induce tissue repair; however, their effective delivery into the brain has remained a challenge. We loaded EPCs with superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs), assessed their angiogenic potential and evaluated their guidance to the brain using an external magnet. SPIONs were stored in the cytoplasm within endosomes/lysosomes as observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and could be visualized as hypointense signals by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) T2-weighted images. In vitro SPION-loaded EPCs were fully functional, forming vessel-like structures in Matrigel®, and displayed enhanced migration and secretion of growth factors (VEGF and FGF), which was associated with a moderate increase in reactive oxygen species production. Furthermore, in vivo MRI of treated mice showed accumulated hypointense signals consistent with SPION-loaded EPCs engraftment. Thus, we demonstrate that loading EPCs with SPIONs represents a safe and effective strategy for precise cell guidance into specific brain areas.

FROM THE CLINICAL EDITOR

This study investigates the potential role of endothelial progenitor cells in neuro-repair strategies of the central nervous system using SPION-loaded EPCs and magnetic guidance to the target organ. The authors demonstrate ex vivo cellular viability and maintained function following SPION load as well as successful guidance of the EPCs to the target site via MR imaging in a murine model.

Ultrafast and continuous synthesis of crystalline ferrite nanoparticles in supercritical ethanol

Magnetic nanoparticles (NPs) are of increasing interest in various industrially relevant products. For these, the development of greener and faster approaches facilitating scaling-up production is of paramount importance. Here, we report a novel, green and potentially scalable approach for the continuous and ultrafast (90 s) synthesis of superparamagnetic ferrite NPs (MnFe(2)O(4), Fe(3)O(4)) in supercritical ethanol (scEtOH) at a fairly moderate temperature (260 °C). ScEtOH exhibits numerous advantages such as its production from bio-resources, its lack of toxicity and its relatively low supercritical coordinates (p(c) = 6.39 MPa and T(c) = 243 °C), being therefore appropriate for the development of sustainable technologies. The present study is completed by the investigation of both in situ and ex situ NP surface functionalization. The as-obtained nanoparticles present good crystallinity, sizes below 8 nm, superparamagnetic behavior at room temperature and high saturation magnetization. Moreover, depending on the capping strategy, the ferrite NPs present extended (for in situ coated NPs) or short-term (for ex situ coated NPs) colloidal stability.

Magneto-optical enhancement by plasmon excitations in nanoparticle/metal structures

Coupling magnetic materials to plasmonic structures provides a pathway to dramatically increase the magneto-optical response of the resulting composite architecture. Although such optical enhancement has been demonstrated in a variety of systems, some basic aspects are scarcely known. In particular, reflectance/transmission modulations and electromagnetic field intensification, both triggered by plasmon excitations, can contribute to the magneto-optical enhancement. However, a quantitative evaluation of the impact of both factors on the magneto-optical response is lacking. To address this issue, we have measured magneto-optical Kerr spectra on corrugated gold/dielectric interfaces with magnetic (nickel and iron oxide) nanoparticles. We find that the magneto-optical activity is enhanced by up to an order of magnitude for wavelengths that are correlated to the excitation of propagating or localized surface plasmons. Our work sheds light on the fundamental principles for the observed optical response and demonstrates that the outstanding magneto-optical performance is originated by the increase of the polarization conversion efficiency, whereas the contribution of reflectance modulations is negligible.

Soil mineralization of two-phase olive mill wastes: effect of the lignocellulosic composition on soil C dynamics

The low degradation rate of two-phase olive mill wastes (TPOMW) during composting and after soil application is a characteristic feature of these materials. The aim of this work was to evaluate the relationship between the lignocellulosic fraction of TPOMW and the organic matter (OM) degradation rate in three agricultural soils amended with four TPOMW composting mixtures at different degree of stabilisation and prepared with different bulking agents and N sources. The mineralisation kinetics of TPOMW composting mixtures in soil reflected a large amount of slowly mineralisable C even in the starting mixtures (I and T1) where this fraction represented up to 85% of the total potentially mineralisable C pool. The effect of rich lignocellulosic composition was confirmed by the study of the DTS (50% dry TPOMW + 50% sheep manure) mixtures prepared with dry TPOMW, which had undergone partial degradation in a storage pond for one year before composting. These DTS samples showed a more similar kinetic behaviour in soil than the more transformed composting mixtures as reflected in the principal component analysis (PCA) diagram, where they were grouped in the same quadrant dominated by the lignin/holocellulose ratio. Soils amended with mature composts evolved very low amounts of C (between 2 and 6% of the added C) after two months of incubation, which highlights the suitability of these materials as a suitable C source for the soil to promote long term soil C stabilisation.

Optical and electrical properties of colloidal (spherical Au)-(spinel ferrite nanorod) heterostructures

We report here a simple synthetic route to Au-Fe(x)O(y) heterostructures in which spinel ferrite (Fe(x)O(y)) grows as a nanorod on a spherical gold (Au) seed. The large red shift in the plasmon resonance in the heterostructures could be explained by a dielectric effect (although we could not entirely exclude a contribution due to electron transfer from Au to defect states at the Au-Fe(x)O(y) interface), while the magnetic properties of the Au-Fe(x)O(y) heterostructures were basically the same as those of the corresponding nanocrystals after Au leaching. In films of Au-Fe(x)O(y) heterostructures the electrical conductivity appeared to be mediated by the Au domains.

Ultrathin conformal coating for complex magneto-photonic structures

We report on an extremely fast and versatile synthetic approach, based on microwave assisted sol-gel chemistry, that allows a conformal nanometric coating of intricate three-dimensional structures. Using this methodology, we have achieved a conformal coverage of large areas of three-dimensional opals with a superparamagnetic manganese ferrite layer, yielding magneto-photonic crystals with excellent quality. The use of a ternary oxide for the ultrathin coating demonstrates the potential of this methodology to realize three-dimensional structures with complex materials that may find applications beyond photonics, such as energy, sensing or catalysis.