abstract
Bioapplications of gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) have received significant attention due to their sensitive optical characteristics which depend on particle size and shape, state of aggregation and to surrounding (bio)chemical environment. In this review, we present an overview of several methods to synthesise stable colloidal Au NPs with focus on the use of the electrostatic assembly method of polyelectrolytes (PE) to functionalise Au NPs. This versatile method allows adjusting the thickness, chemical functions and the surface charge of the shells surrounding the Au NPs, thus the relevance of these features for the bioapplications of Au NPs involving surface-mediated processes is discussed. Moreover, because the PE used can be functionalised with organic fluorophores, drugs or antibodies yielding multifunctional nanocomposites useful for those applications, this review also provides an overview of the electrostatic assembly of functionalised PE onto Au NPs and their bioapplications.
keywords
FUNCTIONAL CORE/SHELL NANOPARTICLES; STABILIZED GOLD; SILVER NANOPARTICLES; SURFACE MODIFICATION; METAL NANOPARTICLES; OPTICAL-PROPERTIES; ENERGY-TRANSFER; SIRNA DELIVERY; FLUORESCENCE; NANORODS
subject category
Chemistry; Polymer Science
authors
Pereira, SO; Barros-Timmons, A; Trindade, T
our authors
Ana Margarida Madeira Viegas de Barros Timmon
Assistant Professor
Sónia Oliveira Pereira
Research Fellowship
Tito Trindade
Full professoracknowledgements
Sonia Pereira thanks Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT) for the grant SFRH/BD/80156/2011. CICECO acknowledges funding from FCT, FSE and POPH (Pest-C/CTM/LA0011/2011 project).