Influence of “Glow Discharge Plasma” as an External Stimulus on the Self-Assembly, Morphology and Binding Affinity of Gold Nanoparticle-Streptavidin Conjugates

International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Wael Mamdouh¹  Yingzhi Li²  Sherif M. Shawky¹  Hassan M. E. Azzazy¹ 

[1] Department of Chemistry, School of Sciences and Engineering, The American University in Cairo (AUC), AUC Avenue, P.O. Box 74, New Cairo 11835, Egypt; E-Mails:;Advanced Nanotechnology Center, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China; E-Mails:

关键词: self-assembly;    gold nanoparticles;    interface;    glow discharge plasma;    atomic force microscopy;    molecular aggregates;    external stimuli;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijms13066534

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

In this study, we investigate the influence of glow discharge plasma (GDP) on the self-assembly, morphology and binding affinity of streptavidin coated gold nanoparticles (Au-NP-SV) and biotinylated antibody (bAb) adsorbed on a highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) substrate. Atomic force microscope (AFM) was used to image the pre- and post-GDP treated samples. The analysis of the AFM images showed a considerable change in the aggregation and morphology of Au-NP-conjugates after treatment with GDP. To our knowledge, this is the first report on using GDP to enhance and speed-up the aggregation (sintering) of adsorbed NP biomolecular conjugates. These results show a promising route that could be generalized for other NPs and their conjugates. It can also be considered as an alternative and cheap aggregation method for controlling the binding affinity of biomolecular species on different surfaces with interesting applications.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2012 by the authors; licensee Molecular Diversity Preservation International, Basel, Switzerland.