Grulke Eric A, Wu Xiaochun, Ji Yinglu, Buhr Egbert, Yamamoto Kazuhiro, Song Nam Woong, Stefaniak Aleksandr B, Schwegler-Berry Diane, Burchett Woodrow W, Lambert Joshua, Stromberg Arnold J
Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, United States of America.
CAS Key Laboratory of Standardization and Measurement for Nanotechnology, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing 1001901, People's Republic of China.
Metrologia. 2018 Feb 28;55(2):254-267. doi: 10.1088/1681-7575/aaa368.
Size and shape distributions of gold nanorod samples are critical to their physico-chemical properties, especially their longitudinal surface plasmon resonance. This interlaboratory comparison study developed methods for measuring and evaluating size and shape distributions for gold nanorod samples using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images. The objective was to determine whether two different samples, which had different performance attributes in their application, were different with respect to their size and/or shape descriptor distributions. Touching particles in the captured images were identified using a ruggedness shape descriptor. Nanorods could be distinguished from nanocubes using an elongational shape descriptor. A non-parametric statistical test showed that cumulative distributions of an elongational shape descriptor, that is, the aspect ratio, were statistically different between the two samples for all laboratories. While the scale parameters of size and shape distributions were similar for both samples, the width parameters of size and shape distributions were statistically different. This protocol fulfills an important need for a standardized approach to measure gold nanorod size and shape distributions for applications in which quantitative measurements and comparisons are important. Furthermore, the validated protocol workflow can be automated, thus providing consistent and rapid measurements of nanorod size and shape distributions for researchers, regulatory agencies, and industry.
金纳米棒样品的尺寸和形状分布对其物理化学性质至关重要，尤其是其纵向表面等离子体共振。这项实验室间比较研究开发了利用透射电子显微镜（TEM）图像测量和评估金纳米棒样品尺寸和形状分布的方法。目的是确定在应用中具有不同性能属性的两个不同样品在尺寸和/或形状描述符分布方面是否存在差异。使用一种稳健的形状描述符识别捕获图像中的接触颗粒。可以使用伸长形状描述符将纳米棒与纳米立方体区分开来。非参数统计检验表明，对于所有实验室，两个样品之间伸长形状描述符（即纵横比）的累积分布在统计学上存在差异。虽然两个样品尺寸和形状分布的尺度参数相似，但尺寸和形状分布的宽度参数在统计学上存在差异。该方案满足了对标准化方法的重要需求，以便在定量测量和比较很重要的应用中测量金纳米棒的尺寸和形状分布。此外，经过验证的方案工作流程可以自动化，从而为研究人员、监管机构和行业提供一致且快速的纳米棒尺寸和形状分布测量。
