Au nanoparticles (NPs) deposited on a substrate function as ring shaped colloidal shadow masks. Using e-beam evaporation of gold, nanometer sized gaps are formed as a result. The size of these gaps can be accurately tuned by controlling the thickness of the gold deposition, thereby tuning the plasmonic coupling of the NPs with the substrate. The clean cavity produced between the Au NPs and the ...

The aim of the work was to investigate the interaction between borate capped gold nanoparticles (NPs) and the rat brain synaptosomal plasma membranes (SPM), as well as the effects of these NPs on SPM Na/KATPase and Mg-ATPase activity. The changes in the UV-vis spectra of NPs and SPM assembly suggested the agglomeration and precipitation of NPs. FTIR measurements indicated that both protein –SH ...

Biocompatible superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (NPs) through smart chemical functionalization of their surface with fluorescent species, therapeutic proteins, antibiotics, and aptamers offer remarkable potential for diagnosis and therapy of disease sites at their initial stage of growth. Such NPs can be obtained by the creation of proper linkers between magnetic NP and fluorescent or ...

Metallic nanoparticles (NPs) have received recently considerable interest of photonic and photovoltaic communities. In this work, we report the optoelectronic properties of gold NPs (Au-NPs) obtained by depositing very thin gold layers on glass substrates through thermal evaporation electron-beam assisted process. The effect of mass thickness of the layer was evaluated. The polycrystalline Au-N...

  Introduction: In the present study, we investigated the role of gold-silica shell-core nanoparticle in megavoltage irradiation of MCF7 breast cancer cells.   Materials and Methods: gold-silicon oxide shell-core nanoparticles (NPs) were obtained by conjugation of gold nanoparticle with amine or thiol functionalized silica nanoparticles (AuN@SiO2 and AuS@SiO...

Single-crystal tetragonal α-MnO2 nanorods with different amounts of gold nanoparticles (NPs) attached were successfully prepared by a facile sputtering deposition technique. Initially, the morphology and crystal structure of the bare α-MnO2 nanorods synthesized via a hydrothermal approach were investigated. Then, the amount of gold NPs at different sputtering times was analyzed. It was confirme...

Due to the special optical properties, optical probes including metal nanoparticles (NPs), quantum dots, and fluorescent dyes, are increasingly used as labeling tools in biological imaging. Using multiphoton microscopy and fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) system, we recorded the images from gold NPs conjugated to monoclonal ACT1 antibody, fluorescence dye Alexa 488 (A488) conjugated to ACT1...

Surface plasmon resonance measurements and magnetic characterization studies have been carried out for two types of thiol-capped gold nanoparticles (NPs) with similar diameters between 2.0 and 2.5 nm and different organic molecules linked to the sulfur atom: dodecanethiol and tiopronin. In addition, Au NPs capped with tetraoctyl ammonium bromide have also been included in the investigation sinc...

Laser ablation in liquids is now commonly used to produce colloidal nanoparticles (NPs) that have found numerous applications in different areas. In experiments, NPs of different materials can be rather easily obtained by using laser systems with various pulse durations, shapes, wavelengths, and fluences. In this paper, we focus our attention on metal (gold) NPs produced by ultra-short laser pu...

We describe the peculiar conditions under which optically driven gold nanoparticles (NPs) can significantly increase temperature or even melt a surrounding matrix. The heating and melting processes occur under light illumination and involve the plasmon resonance. For the matrix, we consider water, ice, and polymer. Melting and heating the matrix becomes possible if a nanoparticle size is large ...