Bimetallic nanoparticles, or BMNPs, are nanosized structures that are of growing interest in biomedical applications. Although their production shares aspects with physicochemical approaches for the synthesis of their monometallic counterparts, they can show a large variety of new properties and applications as a consequence of the synergetic effect between the two components. These applications can be as diverse as antibacterial treatments or anticancer or biological imaging approaches, as well as drug delivery. Nevertheless, the utilization of BMNPs in such fields has received limited attention because of the severe lack of knowledge and concerns regarding the use of other nanomaterials, such as stability and biodegradability over time, tendency to form clusters, chemical reactivity, and biocompatibility. In this review, a close look at bimetallic systems is presented, focusing on their biomedical applications as antibacterial, anticancer, drug delivery and imaging agents, showing significant enhancement of their features compared to their monometallic counterparts and other current used nanomaterials for biomedical applications. Index1. Nanotechnology for biomedical applications. 1.1. Nanotechnology and nanomedicine. The born of a new era. 1.2. The use of metallic nanoparticles in nanomedicine. 2. Bimetallic nanoparticles. A step further. 2.1. Synthesis of bimetallic nanoparticles 2.1.1. Physicochemical approaches 2.1.2. Green chemistry approaches 2.2. Bimetallic nanoparticles as biomedical tools 2.2.1.
The increasing demand for single‐use plastic‐based products worldwide has generated immense waste during the last decade. This review aims to summarize the current developments of surface‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) for detecting micro‐ and nanoplastics in a variety of samples and environments. Despite the SERS technique being very recent for this purpose, its robustness has already been discussed in a few analyses focused on well‐known pollutants such as phthalates, plasticizers, and xenobiotic contaminants from commercially available water bottles. Here, the latest advances, obstacles, and perspectives are reviewed using SERS detection as a robust alternative for analyzing complex samples containing nanoplastic particles present in daily consumer products such as wine and vegetables. Moreover, this paper describes different SERS substrates developed to overcome the limitations for identifying polymer particles at low concentrations. Factors contributing to the sensitivity of SERS substrates are discussed to show the advantages and limitations of this technique. The broader role of SERS as a tool in environmental research is currently explored from polluted air and aquatic environments, which can be relevant for other fields, such as clinical monitoring and nanotoxicology.
The widespread use of titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) has raised concerns about potential health risks associated with its cytotoxicity in the cardiovascular system. To evaluate the cytotoxicity of TiO 2 particles, the H9c2 rat cardiomyoblasts were used as a biological model, and their toxicological susceptibility to TiO 2 -anatase and TiO 2 -rutile particles was studied in vitro. The study examined dose and time exposure responses. The cell viability was evaluated based on metabolic inhibition and membrane integrity loss. The results revealed that both TiO 2 -anatase and TiO 2 -rutile particles induced similar levels of cytotoxicity at the inhibition concentrations IC 25 (1.4−4.4 μg/cm 2 ) and IC 50 (7.2−9.3 μg/cm 2 ). However, at more significant concentrations, TiO 2 -rutile appeared to be more cytotoxic than TiO 2 -anatase at 24 h. The study found that the TiO 2 particles induced apoptosis events, but necrosis was not observed at any of the concentrations of particles used. The study considered the effects of microstructural properties, crystalline phase, and particle size in determining the capability of TiO 2 particles to induce cytotoxicity in H9c2 cardiomyoblasts. The microstress in TiO 2 particles was assessed using powder X-ray diffraction through Williamson−Hall and Warren−Averbach analysis. The analysis estimated the apparent crystallite domain and microstrain of TiO 2 -anatase to be 29 nm (ε = 1.03%) and TiO 2 -rutile to be 21 nm (ε = 0.53%), respectively. Raman spectroscopy, N 2 adsorption isotherms, and dynamic light scattering were used to identify the presence of pure crystalline phases (>99.9%), comparative surface areas (10 m 2 /g), and ζ-potential values (−24 mV). The difference in the properties of TiO 2 particles made it difficult to attribute the cytotoxicity solely to one variable.
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