Laser-Based Synthesis of Au Nanoparticles for Optical Sensing of Glyphosate: A Preliminary Study

Gold Nanoparticle Drug Delivery System: Principle and Application

In recent years, gold nanoparticles (GNPs) have gradually become a major choice of drug delivery cargoes due to unique properties. Compared to traditional bulk solid gold, GNPs have basic physical and chemical advantages, such as a larger surface area-to-volume ratio and easier surface modification. Furthermore, these have excellent biocompatibility, can induce the directional adsorption and enrichment of biological macromolecules, help retain biological macromolecule activity, and cause low harm to the human body. All these make GNPs good drug delivery cargoes. The present study introduces the properties of GNPs, including factors that affect the properties and synthesis. Then, focus was given on the application in drug delivery, not only on the molecular mechanism, but also on the clinical application. Furthermore, the properties and applications of peptide GNPs were also introduced. Finally, the challenges and prospects of GNPs for drug delivery were summarized.

Structural Study of the Photo-Mediated Growth of Silver Nanoprisms

We present a small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) study of the anisotropic photoinduced growth of silver (Ag) nanoprisms in aqueous dispersions. The growth of nearly spherical (<10 nm) Ag particles into large (>40 nm) and thin (<10 nm) triangular nanoprisms induced by 550 nm laser is followed in terms of particle size using indirect and direct methods for irradiation times up to 150 min. During the process, the surface-to-volume ratio of the particles decreased. The SAXS data of the initial solution fit well to the model of polydisperse spheres with pronounced average diameters around 7.4 nm and 10 nm. The data after 45 min irradiation fit well to the model containing approximately the same amount of the initial particles and the end product, the nanoprisms.