Core-Shell Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide Nanoclusters for Bioconjugation

Sammanfattning

Nanoparticles (NPs) have been part of our daily lives whether we are aware of it ornot and are continuously shaping our world of tomorrow. They are employed in awide range of applications such as in sunscreens, breaking down microplastics inthe ocean and scaling down beyond Moore’s law. Superparamagnetic iron oxidenanoparticles (SPIONs) are one such NPs which have shown promising resultsin diverse fields, from magnetic resonance imagining (MRI) to drug delivery andmagnetic separation. In this work, SPIONs were synthesised following the conceptof green chemistry and self-assembled into nanoclusters (NCs) with a one-potsynthesis via microwave-assisted (MW) or conventional solvothermal (ST) route.The NC surface was engineered with several capping agents granting monodispersityand a flexible platform for bioconjugation. Furthermore, as-synthesised NCswere subsequently coated with a 55 nm thin silica shell leading to a core-shellarchitecture, which would prevent the probable iron dissolution in the biologicalenvironment as well as enhance their biocompatibility. After optimizing the NCsize and shape, a detailed characterization of their properties, behaviour, and potentialapplications was performed.