Modulating luminescence and assembled shapes of ultrasmall Au nanoparticles towards hierarchical information encryption

DNA Origami-Based Letterpress Printing of Gold Nanostructures with Predesigned Morphologies

Creating customizable metallic nanostructures in a simple and controllable manner has been a long-standing goal in nanoscience. In this study, we use DNA origami as a letterpress printing plate and gold nanoparticles as ink to produce predesigned gold nanostructures. The letterpress plate is reusable, enabling the repetitive production of predesigned gold nanostructures. Furthermore, by modifying the DNA origami letterpress plate on magnetic beads, we can simplify the printing processes. We have successfully printed gold nanoparticle dimers, trimers, straight and quadrilateral tetramers, and other nanostructures. Our approach improves the flexibility and stability of metallic nanostructures, simplifying both their design and their operation. It promises universal applicability in the fabrication of metamaterials, biosensors, and surface plasma nanooptics.

Biological Interaction and Imaging of Ultrasmall Gold Nanoparticles

The ultrasmall gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), serving as a bridge between small molecules and traditional inorganic nanoparticles, create significant opportunities to address many challenges in the health field. This review discusses the recent advances in the biological interactions and imaging of ultrasmall AuNPs. The challenges and the future development directions of the ultrasmall AuNPs are presented.

Controlling NIR-II emitting gold organic/inorganic nanohybrids with tunable morphology and surface PEG density for dynamic visualization of vascular dysfunction

Luminescent Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) and their organic/inorganic nanohybrids are of interest due to their favorable properties and promising biomedical applications. However, most existing AuNP-based hybrid nanostructures cannot satisfy high efficiency in synthesis, deep tissue penetration, and long blood circulation simultaneously, thus cannot be employed in dynamic monitoring of biomedical applications. In this paper, using Pluronic F127 as a template, we report a robust approach for one-pot synthesis of AuNP-based organic/inorganic nanohybrids (AuNHs) with bright luminescence in the second near-infrared (NIR-II) window, tunable shape, and controllable surface polyethylene glycol (PEG) density. The nanohybrids could be controlled from a necklace-like shape with a dense brush PEG configuration to a spherical structure with a brush PEG coating, which greatly impacts the in vivo biological behavior. Compared to spherical AuNHs, the necklace-shaped AuNHs present a higher quantum yield and longer blood circulation, which are superior to most of the individual AuNPs. With these outstanding features, the necklace-shaped AuNHs could achieve real-time, dynamic visualization of vascular dysfunction, capable of directing the precise administration of thrombolytics (a medicine for the breakdown of blood clots). These findings could provide a powerful guide for designing novel NIR-II nanoprobes toward in vivo dynamic information visualization.