Transcript Water-dispersible fluorous gold supraparticles

Water-dispersiblefluorousgoldsupraparticles
C.Pigliacelli1,2,D.Maiolo1,Nonappa2,O.Ikkala2,P.Metrangolo1,2,3andF.BaldelliBombelli1
1
Fondazione Centro Europeo Nanomedicina@NFMLab, Department of Chemistry, Materials, and Chemical
Engineering“GiulioNatta”,PolitecnicodiMilano,ViaL.Mancinelli7,20131Milan,Italy.
2
HYBERCentreofExcellence,DepartmentofAppliedPhysics,AaltoUniversity,02150Espoo,Finland.
3
VTT-TechnicalResearchCentreofFinlandLtd,Biologinkuja7,02150Espoo,Finland.
[email protected]
Fluorousnanomaterialshavebeendemonstratedtohaveinterestingpotentialapplicationsinvariousfields,
e.g., coatings1 and bioimaging,2 due to the combination of fluorine unique properties and the peculiar
physical-chemical features of nanosized objects. In this regard, many efforts have been done in the last
decades to develop new fluorous gold nanoparticles (NPs), and, possibly, overcome their limited waterdispersibility.3TheuniquepropertiesoffluorousNPscanbefurtherharnessedintheirself-assemblyinto
supraparticles(SPs).Indeed,SPshavebeenshowntoexhibitcollectivepropertiesandcanpotentiallyfind
applicationsasinnovativeandmultifunctionaltools.4,5Inthiscontribution,wefirstdescribethesynthesisof
fluorinatedgoldnanoclusters(NCs)andNPs.Thedevelopednano-objectswerethenassembledintowaterdispersiblefluorousSPsusingHydrophobinII(HFBII),aproteinwithfilm-formingsurfactantproperties.The
obtainedinnovativeSPswerecharacterizedbyCryo-TEMandSAXS,whichrevealeddetailsoftheassembly
patternsintotheSPstructures(Figure1).ThefluorousSPswerestableinaqueousenvironmentformonths
andmaintainedunalteredtheisolatedopticalpropertiesofthenanocrystals.
Figure1:Cryo-TEMimagesofwatersolutionsoffluorousSPsstabilisedbyHFBIIandobtainedfromfluorinatedNCs(a,
left)andNPs(b,right).
Acknowledgements:ThefinancialsupportfromRegioneLombardia(FondoperSviluppoelaCoesione-FAS
2007-2013) is gratefully acknowledged. Cryo-TEM studies were performed at the Aalto University
NanomicroscopyCentre.
[1]PigliacelliC.,etal.,J.FluorineChem.,2015,177,62-69.
[2]TirottaI.,etal.,Chem.Rev.,2015,115,1106-1129.
[3]PengoP.,etal.,J.FluorineChem.,2015,177,2-10.
[4]XiaY.,etal.,Nat.Nanotech.,2011,6,580-587.
[5]GuoJ.,etal.,Adv.Mater.,2013,25,5196-5214.