Submit to Materials Review for Materials Propose a Special Issue

Journal Browser

Surface Properties of Nanoparticles and Their Applications in Biomedicine

Print Special Issue Flyer
Special Issue Editors
Special Issue Information
Keywords
Published Papers

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Advanced Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2021) | Viewed by 9869

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Jae-Seung Lee

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Korea
Interests: synthetic control of noble metal nanostructures; surface-functionalization of nanomaterials for advanced chemical properties; nanomaterial-based photothermal therapy and drug delivery, colorimetric sensing of biomolecular targets

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Controlling the surface properties of nanoparticles has been one of the most promising developments in nanomaterials science. Although the intrinsic properties of bare nanoparticle surfaces depend on the elemental composition, size, and shape of the particles, surface functionalization dramatically changes their overall chemical and physical properties because of the high surface-to-volume ratio. From the point of view of interfacial phenomena, the chemical interactions of the particles with their local environment, such as ions, pH, and hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity of solvent molecules, can be fine-tuned for specific biomedical purposes, such as biochemical sensing and imaging, drug delivery, photothermal therapy, and general bioanalytical applications, by an appropriate choice of surface ligands. The outstanding advantages of nanoparticles with functional surface properties over their molecular counterparts can be explored for various potential clinical applications.

In this Special Issue, I invite researchers to submit original full papers, communications, and review articles on any of the abovementioned topics. I particularly welcome contributions dealing with recent advances in controlling the surface properties of nanoparticles for various biomedical and bioanalytical applications.

Authors can submit their manuscripts online at https://www.mdpi.com/journal/materials/. Please mention clearly in the cover letter that the manuscript is to be considered for publication in this specific Special Issue. All manuscripts will undergo a routine peer-review process, and accepted manuscripts will form part of the Special Issue .

Prof. Jae-Seung Lee
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Nanoparticle
Surface property
Functionalization
Surface modification
Biomedicine
Sensing
Imaging
Drug delivery
Photothermal therapy
Bioanalysis
Clinical application

Published Papers (3 papers)

Download All Papers

Research

Jump to: Review

11 pages, 3516 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Bright Blue, Green, and Red Luminescence from Dye-Sensitized Core@Shell Upconversion Nanophosphors under 800 nm Near-Infrared Light

by A-Ra Hong, Joon Soo Han, Gumin Kang, Hyungduk Ko and Ho Seong Jang

Materials 2020, 13(23), 5338; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13235338 - 25 Nov 2020

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1875

Abstract

In this study, Li-based blue- and green-emitting core@shell (C@S) upconversion nanophosphors (UCNPs) and NaGdF₄-based red-emitting C@S UCNPs were synthesized, and IR-808 dyes were conjugated with the C@S UCNPs to enhance upconversion (UC) luminescence. The surface of the as-synthesized C@S UCNPs, which was originally capped with oleic acid, was modified with BF₄⁻ to conjugate the IR-808 dye having a carboxyl functional group to the surface of the UCNPs. After the conjugation with IR-808 dyes, absorbance of the UCNPs was significantly increased. As a result, dye-sensitized blue (B)-, green (G)-, and red (R)-emitting UCNPs exhibited 87-fold, 10.8-fold, and 110-fold enhanced UC luminescence compared with B-, G-, and R-emitting Nd³⁺-doped C@S UCNPs under 800 nm near-infrared (NIR) light excitation, respectively. Consequently, dye-sensitized UCNPs exhibiting strong UC luminescence under 800 nm NIR light excitation have high applicability in a variety of biological applications. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Surface Properties of Nanoparticles and Their Applications in Biomedicine)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

14 pages, 7141 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Control of Particle Size in Flame Spray Pyrolysis of Tb–doped Y₂O₃ for Bio-Imaging

by Sovann Khan, Yunseok Choi, Hak-Young Ahn, Jae Hyun Han, Byeong-Kwon Ju, Jaewon Chung and So-Hye Cho

Materials 2020, 13(13), 2987; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13132987 - 04 Jul 2020

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2779

Abstract

Recently, the use of oxide-based nanomaterials for bio-imaging has received great attention owing to their remarkable stabilities as compared to those of conventional organic dyes. Therefore, the development of scalable methods for highly luminescent oxide materials with fine control of size has become crucial. In this study, we suggested modified flame spray pyrolysis (FSP) as a scalable method to produce a green-light emitting phosphor—Tb–doped Y₂O₃—in the nanometer size range. In our FSP method, an alkali salt (NaNO₃) was found to be highly effective as a size-controlling agent when it is simply mixed with other metal nitrate precursors. The FSP of the mixture solution resulted in oxide composites of Y₂O₃:Tb³⁺ and Na_xO. However, the sodium by-product was easily removed by washing with water. This salt-assisted FSP produced nano-sized and well-dispersed Y₂O₃:Tb³⁺ nanoparticles; their crystallinity and luminescence were higher than those of the bulk product made without the addition of the alkali salt. The nanoparticle surface was further coated with silica for biocompatibility and functionalized with amino groups for the attachment of biological molecules. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Surface Properties of Nanoparticles and Their Applications in Biomedicine)

► Show Figures

Graphical abstract

Review

Jump to: Research

30 pages, 4378 KiB

Open AccessReview

Insights into Characterization Methods and Biomedical Applications of Nanoparticle–Protein Corona

by Yan Li and Jae-Seung Lee

Materials 2020, 13(14), 3093; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13143093 - 10 Jul 2020

Cited by 29 | Viewed by 4726

Abstract

Nanoparticles (NPs) exposed to a biological milieu will strongly interact with proteins, forming “coronas” on the surfaces of the NPs. The protein coronas (PCs) affect the properties of the NPs and provide a new biological identity to the particles in the biological environment. The characterization of NP-PC complexes has attracted enormous research attention, owing to the crucial effects of the properties of an NP-PC on its interactions with living systems, as well as the diverse applications of NP-PC complexes. The analysis of NP-PC complexes without a well-considered approach will inevitably lead to misunderstandings and inappropriate applications of NPs. This review introduces methods for the characterization of NP-PC complexes and investigates their recent applications in biomedicine. Furthermore, the review evaluates these characterization methods based on comprehensive critical views and provides future perspectives regarding the applications of NP-PC complexes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Surface Properties of Nanoparticles and Their Applications in Biomedicine)

► Show Figures