Environmentally sensitive growth of nano-gold for plasmonic sensing

The saying, “gold is gold,” implies that gold, is synonymous with excellence, and as the most excellent of these descriptors, none are better. Since ancient times, gold has been sought out for its luster for coinage, leading to the ancient art of alchemy which focused solely in the isolation and manifestation of gold from other less valuable substances. Eventually whole nations would base their economy on the gold standard, and as science would progress, the chemico-physical properties of gold would be realized, leading toward more efficient electronics, devices, and implants. More recently, gold has been applied vicariously in the field nanomedicine, taking advantage of the unique characteristics that gold exhibits on the nanoscale. One of the major setbacks of nanotherapy has been the immuno-detection and disintegration of nanosystems, designed in vitro, before reaching the site of action. A strategy of germinating nanosystems in situ might open new genera of solutions with more efficacious nanomedicine strategies. While synthetic surfactants have been used to produce metal nanoparticles using classical reduction chemistries, biomineralization has received particular consideration due to it being a “green” synthetic route, biocompatible, and the potential to allow designer particles retaining functionality. Within this paper we describe methods for which the environmental factors govern the structure and functionality of gold nanoparticles formed. Stemming from this we have moved toward an in cell synthesis, away from benchtop enabling pathology specifications for size, shape, and functionality of resulting nanoparticles. We anticipate future applications utilizing the technique developed here or methods similar to these, to propel the next major advancement in nanomedicine utilizing cellular machinery dependent on the pathology and not heavily on benchtop synthesis. The field of nanomedicine, being relatively new takes advantage of properties that materials will exhibit on a nanoscale, which are not as prominent or non-existent in their bulk counterparts, for applications in sensing of disease or therapeutic applications. For nano-gold, the technology to make these materials has existed since stained glass, but the ability to understand precisely what was being produced more recently.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Bioengineering

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2017

Author dc:creator

• Schwartz-Duval, Aaron Star

Contributors dc:contributor

• Pan, Dipanjan

• Gold nanoparticles
• Controlled synthesis
• Biomimesis
• Anisotropic crystallization

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2017 Aaron Schwartz-Duval

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/98207

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F98207