Aminoclay Nanoparticles’ Multiple Functionality Based on Wide-spectrum Anti-bactericidal, Algicidal/Microalgal-Flocculation, and Anti-tumor Effects

Since 1997 [1,2], water-solubilized and positively charged organo-building blocks of aminoclay nanoparticles (ACNPs) have attracted intensive academic and industrial interest for their multifaceted applications [3]. Engineered organic-inorganic ACNPs constituted of high-density amine groups and approximately 10% total amines in aqueous solution, when protonated, acquire a cationic surface property [4]. The ACNPs’ unit structure is composed, in its center, of cationic metals Mg, Ca, Zn, Co, Ni, Cu, Al, Fe, and Ce, some of which maintain their respective unique activities [5,6]. On both sides of that structure, a central metal sheet of octahedrally coordinated metal oxide or hydroxide chains in a 3-aminopropyl-functionalized silicate network is overlaid (Figure 1). Mass production of ACNPs is feasible from the engineering viewpoint, as the cationic metal species can be reacted with aminosilane precursors in a one-pot sol-gel reaction under ambient conditions [7], this makes possible an ACNP cost reduction to an estimated ~0.5/g, even using high-purity chemicals [8].