Capocefalo Angela, Bizien Thomas, Sennato Simona, Ghofraniha Neda, Bordi Federico, Brasili Francesco
Institute for Complex Systems (ISC-CNR), National Research Council, 00185 Rome, Italy.
Department of Physics, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy.
Nanomaterials (Basel). 2022 May 1;12(9):1529. doi: 10.3390/nano12091529.
Multi-responsive nanomaterials based on the self-limited assembly of plasmonic nanoparticles are of great interest due to their widespread employment in sensing applications. We present a thorough investigation of a hybrid nanomaterial based on the protein-mediated aggregation of gold nanoparticles at varying protein concentration, pH and temperature. By combining Small Angle X-ray Scattering with extinction spectroscopy, we are able to frame the morphological features of the formed fractal aggregates in a theoretical model based on patchy interactions. Based on this, we established the main factors that determine the assembly process and their strong correlation with the optical properties of the assemblies. Moreover, the calibration curves that we obtained for each parameter investigated based on the extinction spectra point out to the notable flexibility of this nanomaterial, enabling the selection of different working ranges with high sensitivity. Our study opens for the rational tuning of the morphology and the optical properties of plasmonic assemblies to design colorimetric sensors with improved performances.
基于等离子体纳米粒子自限组装的多响应纳米材料因其在传感应用中的广泛应用而备受关注。我们对一种基于蛋白质介导的金纳米粒子在不同蛋白质浓度、pH值和温度下聚集的混合纳米材料进行了深入研究。通过将小角X射线散射与消光光谱相结合，我们能够在基于补丁相互作用的理论模型中勾勒出形成的分形聚集体的形态特征。在此基础上，我们确定了决定组装过程的主要因素及其与组装体光学性质的强相关性。此外，我们根据消光光谱为每个研究参数获得的校准曲线表明，这种纳米材料具有显著的灵活性，能够以高灵敏度选择不同的工作范围。我们的研究为合理调节等离子体组装体的形态和光学性质以设计性能更优的比色传感器开辟了道路。
