Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Au and Ag Nanoparticles. Breakthroughs and Perspectives

Abstract

This review provides a broad look on the recent investigations on the synthesis, characterization and physico-chemical properties of noble metal nanoparticles, mainly gold and silver nanoparticles, stabilized with ligands of different chemical nature. A comprehensive review of the available literature in this field may be far too large and only some selected representative examples will be reported here, together with some recent achievements from our group, that will be discussed in more detail. Many efforts in finding synthetic routes have been performed so far to achieve metal nanoparticles with well-defined size, morphology and stability in different environments, to match the large variety of applications that can be foreseen for these materials. In particular, the synthesis and stabilization of gold and silver nanoparticles together with their properties in different emerging fields of nanomedicine, optics and sensors are reviewed and briefly commented.

Congo Red Decolorization Using Textile Filters and Laccase-Based Nanocomposites in Continuous Flow Bioreactors

“…These results confirm that by combining immobilized laccase with the nanocomposites, the percentage of dye decolorization increased with respect to free laccase and just immobilized laccase in the filter. This synergistic behavior has been previously described for systems where immobilized lipase enzyme from Candida rugosa was applied for the lipolytic activity in conjunction with gold nanoparticles [ 57 , 58 ]. In this study, the improved behavior was attributed to the hydrophobic/hydrophilic interaction of the nanoparticles [ 57 ].…”

In vitro exploration of the synergistic effect of alternating magnetic field mediated thermo–chemotherapy with doxorubicin loaded dual pH- and thermo-responsive magnetic nanocomposite carriers

“…34 Normally the physical and chemical properties of nanoparticles such as their size, shape, structure, hydrophilicity, hydrophobicity and charge, determine the cytotoxicity, but in a biological system the surface coating plays a vital role in the biocompatibility. 35,36 In our system, the magnetic core was composed of FDA approved material, magnetite, with designed physical properties to be bio-friendly; the thermal and pH sensitive hydrophilic coating contained widely used PEG side chains to prolong the systemic circulation time and prevent the aggregation. 37 Thus, the biocompatibility has been assured through this preliminary assay, as expected ( Figure 1).…”

Silver Nanoparticles for Water Pollution Monitoring and Treatments: Ecosafety Challenge and Cellulose-Based Hybrids Solution

“…Engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) are typically defined as materials smaller than 100 nm in at least one dimension, and they have specific surface functionalizations and size-dependent properties, such as high reactivity and large surface-to-volume ratio, that satisfy their wide range of applications, including in sensing [1][2][3][4][5], optics [6][7][8][9][10], energy [11][12][13][14][15], catalysis [16][17][18][19], biotechnology [20][21][22][23][24] and so on.…”