Tag Archives: polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)

Using light to make gold crystal nanoparticles

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Gold crystal nanoparticles? Courtesy: University of Florida

Gold crystal nanoparticles? Courtesy: University of Florida

A team from the University of Florida has used gold instead of silver in a process known as plasmon-driven synthesis. From a July 8, 2016 news item on phys.org,

A team of University of Florida researchers has figured out how gold can be used in crystals grown by light to create nanoparticles, a discovery that has major implications for industry and cancer treatment and could improve the function of pharmaceuticals, medical equipment and solar panels.

A July 6, 2016 University of Florida news release, which originated the news item, provides more detail,

Nanoparticles can be “grown” in crystal formations with special use of light, in a process called plasmon-driven synthesis. However, scientists have had limited control unless they used silver, but silver limits the uses for medical technology. The team is the first to successfully use gold, which works well within the human body, with this process.

“How does light actually play a role in the synthesis? [This knowledge] was not well developed,” said David Wei, an associate professor of chemistry who led the research team. “Gold was the model system to demonstrate this.”

Gold is highly desired for nanotechnology because it is malleable, does not react with oxygen and conducts heat well. Those properties make gold an ideal material for nanoparticles, especially those that will be placed in the body.

When polyvinylpyrrolidone, or PVP, a substance commonly found in pharmaceutical tablets, is used in the plasmon-driven synthesis, it enables scientists to better control the growth of crystals. In Wei’s research, PVP surprised the team by showing its potential to relay light-generated “hot” electrons to a gold surface to grow the crystals.

The research describes the first plasmonic synthesis strategy that can make high-yield gold nanoprisms. Even more exciting, the team has demonstrated that visible-range and low-power light can be used in the synthesis. Combined with nanoparticles being used in solar photovoltaic devices, this method can even harness solar energy for chemical synthesis, to make nanomaterials or for general applications in chemistry.

Wei has spent the last decade working in nanotechnology. He is intrigued by its applications in photochemistry and biomedicine, especially in targeted drug delivery and photothermal therapeutics, which is crucial to cancer treatment. His team includes collaborators from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, where he has worked as a visiting scholar, and Brookhaven National Laboratory. In addition, the project has provided an educational opportunity for chemistry students: one high school student (through UF’s Student Science Training Program), two University scholars who also [sic] funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, five graduate students and two postdocs.

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Polyvinylpyrrolidone-induced anisotropic growth of gold nanoprisms in plasmon-driven synthesis by Yueming Zhai, Joseph S. DuChene, Yi-Chung Wang, Jingjing Qiu, Aaron C. Johnston-Peck, Bo You, Wenxiao Guo, Benedetto DiCiaccio, Kun Qian, Evan W. Zhao, Frances Ooi, Dehong Hu, Dong Su, Eric A. Stach, Zihua Zhu, & Wei David Wei. Nature Materials (2016) doi:10.1038/nmat4683 Published online 04 July 2016

This paper is behind a paywall.

Silver nanoparticle reference materials

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When comparing silver nanoparticle toxicity studies, it would be good to know that the studies are all looking at the same type of nanoparticle. Happily, the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed a silver nanoparticle reference material for just that purpose. From a March 5, 2015 news item on Azonano,

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has issued a new silver nanoparticle reference material to support researchers studying potential environmental, health and safety risks associated with the nanoparticles, which are being incorporated in a growing number of consumer and industrial products for their antimicrobial properties. The new NIST test material is believed to be the first of its kind to stabilize the highly reactive silver particles in a freeze-dried, polymer coated, nanoparticle cake for long-term storage.

Nanoparticulate silver is a highly effective bactericide. It is, by some estimates, the most widely used nanomaterial in consumer products. These include socks and shoe liners (it combats foot odor), stain-resistant fabrics, coatings for handrails and keyboards, and a plethora of other applications.

The explosion of “nanosilver” products has driven a like expansion of research to better understand what happens to the material in the environment. “Silver nanoparticles transform, dissolve and precipitate back into nanoparticles again, combine or react with other materials—our understanding of these processes is limited,” says NIST chemist Vince Hackley. “However, in order to study their biological and environmental behavior and fate, one needs to know one is starting with the same material and not some modified or oxidized version. This new reference material targets a broad range of research applications.” [emphasis mine]

A March 3, 2015 NIST news release, which originated the news item, elaborates,

Silver nanoparticles are highly reactive. In the presence of oxygen or moisture they rapidly oxidize, subsequently releasing silver ions. This is the basis for their antimicrobial properties, but it also makes it difficult to create a standardized silver nanoparticle suspension with a long shelf life as a basis for doing comparative environmental studies. The new NIST product is the first to be stabilized by coating and freeze-drying—a technique commonly used in the pharmaceutical industry to preserve blood products and protein-based drugs. The NIST material uses polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), a polymer approved by the Food and Drug Administration for many uses, including as a food additive. The freeze-dried PVP-nanosilver cakes are flushed with an inert gas and sealed under a vacuum. Mixing the cake with water reconstitutes the original suspension.

NIST reference materials are designed to be homogeneous and stable. NIST provides the best available estimates for key properties of reference materials. In this case those include the mean silver particle size measured by four different methods, the total silver mass per vial, and the percentage distribution of nanoparticle sizes. The particles have a nominal diameter of 75 nanometers. NIST expects the material to be stable indefinitely when properly stored and handled, but will continue to monitor it for substantive changes in the reported values.

More information on NIST RM 8017, “Polyvinylpyrrolidone Coated Silver Nanoparticles” is available at https://www-s.nist.gov/srmors/view_report.cfm?srm=8017.

Given this development, I’m beginning to question all of the silver studies I’ve seen previously.