The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 30% people in the world lack access to safe drinking water due to the presence of toxic waterborne contaminants, which kills more than 7.6 million children every year. Marine mussels secure themselves in the environment via foot proteins containing 3,4-dihydroxy-l-phenylalanine (DOPA) and lysine amino acids. Inspired by mussel surface chemistry, in the current paper, we report the development of novel composite nanoparticles via functionalization of polydopamine nanoparticle with graphene oxide and ε-poly-l-lysine, which can be used in decontamination of toxic waterborne contaminants and disinfection of drug resistance pathogens from environmental water samples. Reported composite nanoparticles with specific surface area 410 m2g–1, pore volume 0.620 cm3 g–1, and pore size between 2 and 130 nm have been used as channels for water passage and captured toxic metals as well as drug resistant pathogens. The surface oxygen-containing groups from GO and the functional groups of catechols and amines in PD nanoparticles have been used as active sites for decontamination of heavy metals ions. ε-Poly-l-lysine, a natural antimicrobial peptide, has been attached to the composite nanoparticle for killing of superbugs captured by the membrane. Reported data demonstrated that composite nanoparticles can be used for efficient separation of several heavy toxic metals such as Cr6+, Pb2+, Cu2+, Hg2+, and Zn2+ from environmental water samples. The same membrane also can be used for 100% separation and eradication of different superbugs such as β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae (KPN) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Possible mechanisms for water contaminant separation and disinfection of superbugs using composite nanoparticles are discussed.
Fruit based nanosystem can identify triple negative breast cancer cells.
The growing need for biomedical contrast agents has led to the current development of multi-functional materials such as lanthanide-based nanoparticles (NPs). The optical and magnetic properties these nanoparticles (NPs) possess are important to enhance current biomedical imaging techniques. To increase the optical emissions of the nanoparticles, neodymium (Nd) and ytterbium (Yb) were introduced into a magnetic host of NaGdF. The energy transfer between Nd and the Yb was then investigated at multiple concentrations to determine the optimal dopant levels. The NaGdF:Nd,Yb nanoparticles were synthesized through a modified solvothermal method, resulting in rectangular structures, with an average side length of 17.87 ± 4.38 nm. A double dopant concentration of 10% Nd and 4% Yb was found to be optimal, increasing the emission intensity by 71.5% when compared to the widely used Nd single dopant. Decay measurements confirm energy transfer from Nd to Yb, with a lifetime shortening from Nd 1064 nm emission and a calculated lifetime of 12.72 ms with 98% efficiency. Despite NaGdF:Nd,Yb NPs showing a slight decrease in their magnetic response at the expense of optimizing optical emission, as it is directly dependent on the Gd concentration, a strong paramagnetic behavior was still observed. These results corroborate that NaGdF:Nd,Yb NPs are viable candidates for multimodal imaging.
Compared to conventional core-shell structures, core-shell free nanoparticles with multiple functionalities offer several advantages such as minimal synthetic complexity and low production cost. In this paper, we present the synthesis and characterization of Nd3+ doped Na(Gd0.5Lu0.5)F4 as a core-shell free nanoparticle system with three functionalities. Nanocrystals with 20 nm diameter, high crystallinity and a narrow particle size distributions were synthesized by the solvothermal method and characterized by various analytical techniques to understand their phase and morphology. Fluorescence characteristics under near infrared (NIR) excitation at 808 nm as well as X-ray excitation were studied to explore their potential in NIR optical and X-ray imaging. At 1.0 mol% Nd concentration, we observed a quantum yield of 25% at 1064 nm emission with 13 W/cm2 excitation power density which is sufficiently enough for imaging applications. Under 130 kVp (5 mA) power of X-ray excitation, Nd3+ doped Na(Gd0.5Lu0.5)F4 shows the characteristic emission bands of Gd3+ and Nd3+ with the strongest emission peak at 1064 nm due to Nd3+. Furthermore, magnetization measurements show that the nanocrystals are paramagnetic in nature with a calculated magnetic moment per particle of ~570 μB at 2T. These preliminary results support the suitability of the present nanophosphor as a multimodal contrast agent with three imaging features viz. optical, magnetic and X-ray.
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