Asymmetrical flow field-flow fractionation with multi-angle light scattering detection for the analysis of structured nanoparticles |
| |
Authors: | Andrea Zattoni Diana Cristina Rambaldi Pierluigi Reschiglian Manuela Melucci Silke Krol Ana Maria Coto Garcia Alfredo Sanz-Medel Dierk Roessner Christoph Johann |
| |
Institution: | 1. Department of Chemistry “G. Ciamician”, University of Bologna, via F. Selmi 2, I-40126 Bologna, Italy;2. Interuniversity Consortium I.N.B.B., Italy;3. Institute for Organic Synthesis and Photoreactivity-ISOF-CNR, via P. Gobetti 101, I-40129 Bologna, Italy;4. NanoBioMed Lab @ LANA3DA, CBM – Cluster in Biomedicine, Area Science Park, Basovizza, I-34012 Trieste, Italy;5. Department of Physical and Analytical Chemistry, University of Oviedo, c/Julián Clavería, 8, E-33006 Oviedo, Spain;6. Wyatt Technology Europe GmbH, Hochstrasse 18, D-56307 Dernbach, Germany |
| |
Abstract: | Synthesis and applications of new functional nanoparticles are topics of increasing interest in many fields of nanotechnology. Chemical modifications of inorganic nanoparticles are often necessary to improve their features as spectroscopic tracers or chemical sensors, and to increase water solubility and biocompatibility for applications in nano-biotechnology. Analysis and characterization of structured nanoparticles are then key steps for their synthesis optimization and final quality control. Many properties of structured nanoparticles are size-dependent. Particle size distribution analysis then provides fundamental analytical information. Asymmetrical flow field-flow fractionation (AF4) with multi-angle light scattering (MALS) detection is able to size-separate and to characterize nanosized analytes in dispersion. In this work we focus on the central role of AF4-MALS to analyze and characterize different types of structured nanoparticles that are finding increasing applications in nano-biotechnology and nanomedicine: polymer-coated gold nanoparticles, fluorescent silica nanoparticles, and quantum dots. AF4 not only size-fractionated these nanoparticles and measured their hydrodynamic radius (rh) distribution but it also separated them from the unbound, relatively low-Mr components of the nanoparticle structures which were still present in the sample solution. On-line MALS detection on real-time gave the gyration radius (rg) distribution of the fractionated nanoparticles. Additional information on nanoparticle morphology was then obtained from the rh/rg index. Stability of the nanoparticle dispersions was finally investigated. Aggregation of the fluorescent silica nanoparticles was found to depend on the concentration at which they were dispersed. Partial release of the polymeric coating from water-soluble QDs was found when shear stress was induced by increasing flowrates during fractionation. |
| |
Keywords: | Asymmetrical flow field-flow fractionation Multi-angle light scattering Particle size distribution analysis Silica nanoparticles Quantum dots Gold nanoparticles |
本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录! |
|