Bovine serum albumin (BSA) was used as a stabilizing agent and biofunctionalized layer for water-dispersed gold nanoparticles (NPs) synthesized from metal precursor HAuCl 4. The BSA binding to gold NPs was characterized qualitatively and quantitatively by transmission electron microscopy, UV-VIS and FTIR spectrophotometers. HER2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor 2) specific phage antibodies were attached to BSA stabilized gold NPs to form a gold–antibody complex. An ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) test was done to confirm the bioactivity of antibodies attached to gold NPs.

Lanthanum (La)-doped zinc oxide nanoparticles were synthesized with different La concentrations by employing a gel combustion method using poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA). The as-synthesized photocatalysts were characterized using various techniques, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, and UV–visible absorption spectroscopy. The average size of ZnO nanoparticles decreased from 34.3 to 10.3 nm with increasing concentrations of La, and the band gap, as evaluated by linear fitting, decreased from 3.10 to 2.78 eV. Additionally, it was found that the photocatalytic activity of doped samples, as investigated by using methyl orange dye under visible lights, improved in response to the increase in La concentration. The decomposition of methyl orange reached 85.86% after 150 min in visible light using La0.1Zn0.9O as the photocatalyst.

This paper presents our recent research results on synthesis and bioapplications of dye-doped silica-based nanoparticles. The dye-doped water soluble organically modified silicate (ORMOSIL) nanoparticles (NPs) with the size of 15–100 nm were synthesized by modified Stöber method from methyltriethoxysilane CH3Si(OCH3)3 precursor (MTEOS). Because thousands of fluorescent dye molecules are encapsulated in the silica-based matrix, the dye-doped nanoparticles are extremely bright and photostable. Their surfaces were modified with bovine serum albumin (BSA) and biocompatible chemical reagents. The highly intensive luminescent nanoparticles were combined with specific bacterial and breast cancer antigen antibodies. The antibody-conjugated nanoparticles can identify a variety of bacterium, such as Escherichia coli O157:H7, through antibody–antigen interaction and recognition. A highly sensitive breast cancer cell detection has been achieved with the anti-HER2 monoclonal antibody–nanoparticles complex. These results demonstrate the potential to apply these fluorescent nanoparticles in various biodetection systems.

Water soluble CdSe/CdS quantum dots (QDs) have been synthesized directly in aqueous solution with sodium citrate as surfactant agent. The QDs are mono-dispersed in water and have strong luminescent emission intensity under excitation of ultraviolet light. The emission maxima of the QDs can be tuned in a wider range from 555 to 615 nm in water by changing synthesis conditions. The result of the synthesis of water-soluble CdSe and CdSe/CdS QDs shows the high quality of the QDs with the quite narrow luminescence emission band and photostability. The results show the strongest intensity of photoluminescence emission in media with pH value at about from 8–8.5, which are pH physiological environments. The luminescence intensity increases when the QDs are coated with a polyethylene glycol (PEG) or bovine serum albumin (BSA) protein layer, the lifetime also increases.

A theoretical approach to quantitatively determine the photothermally driven enhancement of molecular mobility of graphene‐indomethacin mixtures under infrared laser irradiation is proposed. Graphene plasmons absorb incident electromagnetic energy and dissipate them into heat. The absorbed energy depends on optical properties of graphene plasmons, which are sensitive to structural parameters, and concentration of plasmonic nanostructures. By using theoretical modelling, temperature gradients of the bulk drug with different concentrations of graphene plasmons are calculated. From these, the temperature dependence of structural molecular relaxation and diffusion of indomethacin are determined and how the heating process significantly enhances the drug mobility is found out.