Improving the stability of plasmonic magnesium nanoparticles in aqueous media

This work describes two different core-shell architectures based on Mg nanoparticles (NPs) synthesised in order to improve Mg’s stability in aqueous solutions. The shell thickness in Mg-polydopamine NPs can be modulated from 5 to >50 nm by ending the polymerization at different times; the resulting structures stabilize the metallic, plasmonic core in water for well over an hour. Mg-silica NPs with shells ranging from 5 to 30 nm can also be prepared via a modified Stöber procedure and they retain optical properties in 5% water-in-isopropanol solutions. These new architectures allow Mg nanoplasmonics to be investigated as an alternative to Ag and Au in a broader range of experimental conditions for a rich variety of applications.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (NanoDTC Cambridge (EP/L015978/1

Small surface, big effects, and big challenges: toward understanding enzymatic activity at the inorganic nanoparticle–substrate interface

Enzymes are important biomarkers for molecular diagnostics and targets for the action of drugs. In turn, inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) are of interest as materials for biological assays, biosensors, cellular and in vivo imaging probes, and vectors for drug delivery and theranostics. So how does an enzyme interact with a NP, and what are the outcomes of multivalent conjugation of its substrate to a NP? This invited feature article addresses the current state of the art in answering this question. Using gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) and semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) as illustrative materials, we discuss aspects of enzyme structure–function and the properties of NP interfaces and surface chemistry that determine enzyme–NP interactions. These aspects render the substrate-on-NP configurations far more complex and heterogeneous than the conventional turnover of discrete substrate molecules in bulk solution. Special attention is also given to the limitations of a standard kinetic analysis of the enzymatic turnover of these configurations, the need for a well-defined model of turnover, and whether a “hopping” model can account for behaviors such as the apparent acceleration of enzyme activity. A detailed and predictive understanding of how enzymes turn over multivalent NP-substrate conjugates will require a convergence of many concepts and tools from biochemistry, materials, and interface science. In turn, this understanding will help to enable rational, optimized, and value-added designs of NP bioconjugates for biomedical and clinical applications

Decoration of plasmonic Mg nanoparticles by partial galvanic replacement.

Plasmonic structures have attracted much interest in science and engineering disciplines, exploring a myriad of potential applications owing to their strong light-matter interactions. Recently, the plasmonic concentration of energy in subwavelength volumes has been used to initiate chemical reactions, for instance by combining plasmonic materials with catalytic metals. In this work, we demonstrate that plasmonic nanoparticles of earth-abundant Mg can undergo galvanic replacement in a nonaqueous solvent to produce decorated structures. This method yields bimetallic architectures where partially oxidized 200-300 nm Mg nanoplates and nanorods support many smaller Au, Ag, Pd, or Fe nanoparticles, with potential for a stepwise process introducing multiple decoration compositions on a single Mg particle. We investigated this mechanism by electron-beam imaging and local composition mapping with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy as well as, at the ensemble level, by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. High-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy further supported the bimetallic nature of the particles and provided details of the interface geometry, which includes a Mg oxide separation layer between Mg and the other metal. Depending on the composition of the metallic decorations, strong plasmonic optical signals characteristic of plasmon resonances were observed in the bulk with ultraviolet-visible spectrometry and at the single particle level with darkfield scattering. These novel bimetallic and multimetallic designs open up an exciting array of applications where one or multiple plasmonic structures could interact in the near-field of earth-abundant Mg and couple with catalytic nanoparticles for applications in sensing and plasmon-assisted catalysis.Support for this project was provided by the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 (Starting Grant SPECs 804523). J.A. wishes to acknowledge financial support from Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and “Fonds de Recherche Québec – Nature et Technologies” postdoctoral fellowships (BP and B3X programs). C.B. is thankful for funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (Standard Research Studentship (DTP) EP/R513180/1), and E.R.H. for support from the EPSRC NanoDTC Cambridge (EP/L015978/1). S.M.C. acknowledges support from the Henslow Research Fellowship at Girton College, Cambridge. We acknowledge access and support in the use of the electron Physical Sciences Imaging Centre (MG21980) at the Diamond Light Source, U.K

Size Control in the Colloidal Synthesis of Plasmonic Magnesium Nanoparticles.

Nanoparticles of plasmonic materials can sustain oscillations of their free electron density, called localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPRs), giving them a broad range of potential applications. Mg is an earth-abundant plasmonic material attracting growing attention owing to its ability to sustain LSPRs across the ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared wavelength range. Tuning the LSPR frequency of plasmonic nanoparticles requires precise control over their size and shape; for Mg, this control has previously been achieved using top-down fabrication or gas-phase methods, but these are slow and expensive. Here, we systematically probe the effects of reaction parameters on the nucleation and growth of Mg nanoparticles using a facile and inexpensive colloidal synthesis. Small NPs of 80 nm were synthesized using a low reaction time of 1 min and ∼100 nm NPs were synthesized by decreasing the overall reaction concentration, replacing the naphthalene electron carrier with biphenyl or using metal salt additives of FeCl3 or NiCl2 at longer reaction times of 17 h. Intermediate sizes up to 400 nm were further selected via the overall reaction concentration or using other metal salt additives with different reduction potentials. Significantly larger particles of over a micrometer were produced by reducing the reaction temperature and, thus, the nucleation rate. We showed that increasing the solvent coordination reduced Mg NP sizes, while scaling up the reaction reduced the mixing efficiency and produced larger NPs. Surprisingly, varying the relative amounts of Mg precursor and electron carrier had little impact on the final NP sizes. These results pave the way for the large-scale use of Mg as a low-cost and sustainable plasmonic material.Support for this project was provided by the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 (ERC Starting Grant SPECs 804523). E.R.H. is thankful for funding from the EPSRC NanoDTC Cambridge (EP/L015978/1). J.A. acknowledges financial support from Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and Fonds de Recherche du Québec–Nature et Technologies postdoctoral fellowships (BP and B3X programs). C.B. is thankful for funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (Standard Research Studentship (DTP) EP/R513180/1). B.P. and L.T.M. acknowledge support from UK Engineering and Physical Science and Research Council (grant number EP/L020443/2). Thanks to Giulio I. Lampronti for helpful discussions and support

Optoplasmonic effects in highly curved surfaces for catalysis, photothermal heating, and SERS

Surface curvature can be used to focus light and alter optical processes. Here, we show that curved surfaces (spheres, cylinders, and cones) with a radius of around 5 μm lead to maximal optoplasmonic properties including surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), photocatalysis, and photothermal processes. Glass microspheres, microfibers, pulled fibers, and control flat substrates were functionalized with well-dispersed and dense arrays of 45 nm Au NP using polystyrene-block-poly-4-vinylpyridine (PS-b-P4VP) and chemically modified with 4-mercaptobenzoic acid (4-MBA, SERS reporter), 4-nitrobenzenethiol (4-NBT, reactive to plasmonic catalysis), or 4-fluorophenyl isocyanide (FPIC, photothermal reporter). The various curved substrates enhanced the plasmonic properties by focusing the light in a photonic nanojet and providing a directional antenna to increase the collection efficacy of SERS photons. The optoplasmonic effects led to an increase of up to 1 order of magnitude of the SERS response, up to 5 times the photocatalytic conversion of 4-NBT to 4,4′-dimercaptoazobenzene when the diameter of the curved surfaces was about 5 μm and a small increase in photothermal effects. Taken together, the results provide evidence that curvature enhances plasmonic properties and that its effect is maximal for spherical objects around a few micrometers in diameter, in agreement with a theoretical framework based on geometrical optics. These enhanced plasmonic effects and the stationary-phase-like plasmonic substrates pave the way to the next generation of sensors, plasmonic photocatalysts, and photothermal devices

Développement et application de nano-architectures cœur-coquille fluorescentes pour la mesure du pH

Les variations ioniques entrent en jeu dans presque tous les processus métaboliques cellulaires et bactériens. Par le fait même, leur dysfonctionnement induit une modification des concentrations attendues et provoque des maladies graves à même la solution physiologique ou le tissu biologique affecté. Parmi ces différents facteurs, le pH est un paramètre-clé régissant plusieurs activités comme la capacité enzymatique, la conformation tridimensionnelle des protéines et l’activation de certains transporteurs membranaires. Lors de ces travaux de doctorat, des nanoparticules fluorescentes sensibles au pH ont été développées et appliquées sous la forme d’un substrat lamellaire implantable directement dans l’environnement de culture de cellules. Ce nouvel outil analytique adapté pour la recherche biomédicale in vitro offre donc la possibilité de visualiser le pH en microscopie de façon quantitative avec une résolution spatiale (~1 μm) et temporelle (<300 ms). Pour ce faire, les nano-capteurs ont été optimisés dans le cadre d’une étude paramétrique structurale. Ces nanoparticules comportent un coeur métallique offrant une activité plasmonique qui permet d’exalter la fluorescence de chromophores incorporés dans une coquille de silice. La taille, la distance d’espacement, et le degré de recouvrement entre la bande plasmonique et le spectre d’excitation/émission de différents fluorophores ont donc été ajustés afin de rentabiliser la portée de l’effet amplificateur de ces architectures concentriques. Comme la chimie d’encapsulation des molécules sensibles est généralisable pour un grand nombre de précurseurs silanes, une démonstration a été faite pour un concept de nanoparticules multicouches permettant simultanément la détection multiélémentaire de la concentration en protons et en ions halogénure (Cl-, Br-, I-), et aussi la correction de ces signaux par rapport à une référence interne. La normalisation ratiométrique permet de compenser pour les fluctuations et erreurs expérimentales issues notamment de la concentration des capteurs, du photoblanchiment et de l’intensité de la source en fonction du temps. Finalement, cette stratégie a été appliquée dans une étude spectroscopique utilisant la fluorescéine dans des nanoparticules coeur-coquille en tant que rapporteur ratiométrique pour la mesure quantitative du pH dans des cultures cellulaires. Pour ce faire, les nano-architectures ont été fonctionnalisées, puis confinées en surface d’un substrat de silice par voie de couplage clic complémentaire. Ces lamelles de microscopie à valeur ajoutée offrent donc une surface adaptée pour la culture de cellules excitables comme les fibroblastes cardiaques et les neurones, mais aussi pour la croissance bactérienne de biofilms et l’analyse multiphase en microfluidique.Ionic gradient changes are essential in almost every cellular and bacterial metabolic processes. Therefore, any malfunction that perturbs these ion concentrations can induce major illnesses in the affected physiological solution or biological tissue. Amongst all the chemical species influenced by cell metabolism, protons are key to many events; enzyme activity, protein structural changes, and activation of membrane transporters. In this doctoral thesis, pH-sensitive fluorescent nanoparticles were developed and grafted on planar substrates in order to probe the culture medium of different cells in vitro. These innovative analytical tools for biomedical research offer the possibility to image quantitative pH values in microscopy with both spatial (~1 μm) and temporal resolutions (<300 ms). As such, the sensors were optimized in a structural parametric study with regards to the nanoarchitecture design. These particles comprise a metallic core with plasmonic properties to enhance the fluorescence of molecules incorporated into a porous silica shell. The core size, the spacing layer thickness, the spectral overlap between the plasmon and the fluorescence excitation/emission bands, and the sensitive moieties were carefully chosen to take advantage of the plasmonic range of enhancement in concentric architectures. Since the covalent encapsulation of molecules is highly adaptable for many silanized fluorophores, core-multishell architectures were synthesized as a proof of concept which allows simultaneous measurements of pH and halides (Cl-, Br-, I-), and signal normalization with an internal reference onto the same nanoparticle. The ratiometric correction compensates for fluctuations in light intensity and experimental errors with sensor concentration, photobleaching and environmental effects as a function of time. Finally, this analytical strategy was applied in a spectroscopic study of fluorescein-doped nanoparticles as quantitative pH-sensitive markers implemented in biological cell cultures. Particularly, the core-shell nanoarchitectures were functionalized with a silane component and immobilized at the surface of a silica substrate by way of complementary click coupling. These improved microscope coverslips were evaluated as a fluorescent sensing surface for the culture of adhesive excitable cells – e.g. cardiac fibroblasts and neurons, but also for the growth of bacterial biofilms and the study of multiphase interfaces in microfluidic devices

Correlating metal-enhanced fluorescence and sructural properties in Ag@SiO2 core-shell nanoparticles

Metal@silica concentric nanoparticles capable of metal-enhanced fluorescence (MEF) represent a powerful means to improve the brightness and stability of encapsulated organic fluorophores and are finding numerous applications in biology, analytical chemistry, and medical diagnostics. The rational design of MEF-enabled labels and sensors often involves comparing fluorescence enhancement factors (EF) between nanostructures having different structural properties (e.g., metal core diameter, silica shell thickness, extent of spectral overlap between plasmon band and fluorophore). Accurate determination of EFs requires the measurement of fluorescence emission intensity in the presence and absence of the plasmonic core while minimizing the impact of physical and chemical artifacts (e.g., signal variations due to scattering, adsorption, sedimentation). In this work, Ag@SiO2@SiO2¿+¿x (where x is fluorescein, eosin, or rhodamine B) nanostructures were synthesized with excellent control of core size, silica spacer shell thickness and fluorophore concentration. Using UV-VIS spectrometry, spectrofluorimetry, time-resolved fluorometry, and transmission electron microscopy, we investigated the influence of these key structural factors on fluorescence emission intensity, and the results were used to develop a generalized methodology for the determination of fluorescence enhancement factors in Ag@SiO2 core-shell nanoparticles. This methodology should be of general importance to designing MEF-enabled nanostructures, sensors, and related analytical techniques

Improving the stability of plasmonic magnesium nanoparticles in aqueous media

This work describes two different core–shell architectures based on Mg nanoparticles (NPs) synthesised in order to improve Mg's stability in aqueous solutions. The shell thickness in Mg–polydopamine NPs can be modulated from 5 to >50 nm by ending the polymerization at different times; the resulting structures stabilize the metallic, plasmonic core in water for well over an hour. Mg–silica NPs with shells ranging from 5 to 30 nm can also be prepared via a modified Stöber procedure and they retain optical properties in 5% water-in-isopropanol solutions. These new architectures allow Mg nanoplasmonics to be investigated as an alternative to Ag and Au in a broader range of experimental conditions for a rich variety of applications

A ratiometric nanoarchitecture for the simultaneous detection of pH and halide ions using UV plasmon-enhanced fluorescence

In this work, we designed a ratiometric core–shell nanoarchitecture composed of an indium UV plasmonic core, an internal reference (rhodamine B), a pH-sensitive probe (fluorescein), and a halide ion sensor (6-methoxyquinolinium). Immobilizing the fluorophores in distinct silica layers at precise distances from the core modulates the plasmon coupling and tunes the linear concentration range of halide ion detection

Thinking outside the shell : novel sensors designed from plasmon-enhanced fluorescent concentric nanoparticles

The alteration of photophysical properties of fluorophores in the vicinity of a metallic nanostructure, a phenomenon termed plasmon- or metal-enhanced fluorescence (MEF), has been investigated extensively and used in a variety of proof-of-concept demonstrations over the years. A particularly active area of development in this regard has been the design of nanostructures where fluorophore and metallic core are held in a stable geometry that imparts improved luminosity and photostability to a plethora of organic fluorophores. This minireview presents an overview of MEF-based concentric core–shell sensors developed in the past few years. These architectures expand the range of applications of nanoparticles (NPs) beyond the uses possible with fluorescent molecules. Design aspects that are being described include the influence of the nanocomposite structure on MEF, notably the dependence of fluorescence intensity and lifetime on the distance to the plasmonic core. The chemical composition of nanocomposites as a design feature is also discussed, taking as an example the use of non-noble plasmonic metals such as indium as core materials to enhance multiple fluorophores throughout the UV-Vis range and tune the sensitivity of halide-sensing fluorophores operating on the principle of collisional quenching. Finally, the paper describes how various solid substrates can be functionalized with MEF-based nanosensors to bestow them with intense and photostable pH-sensitive properties for use in fields such as medical therapy and diagnostics, dentistry, biochemistry and microfluidics