Influence of temperature and charge effects on thermophoresis of polystyrene beads⋆.

We study the thermodiffusion behavior of spherical polystyrene beads with a diameter of 25 nm by infrared thermal diffusion Forced Rayleigh Scattering (IR-TDFRS). Similar beads were used to investigate the radial dependence of the Soret coefficient by different authors. While Duhr and Braun (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 104, 9346 (2007)) observed a quadratic radial dependence Braibanti et al. (Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 108303 (2008)) found a linear radial dependence of the Soret coefficient. We demonstrated that special care needs to be taken to obtain reliable thermophoretic data, because the measurements are very sensitive to surface properties. The colloidal particles were characterized by transmission electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering (DLS) experiments were performed. We carried out systematic thermophoretic measurements as a function of temperature, buffer and surfactant concentration. The temperature dependence was analyzed using an empirical formula. To describe the Debye length dependence we used a theoretical model by Dhont. The resulting surface charge density is in agreement with previous literature results. Finally, we analyze the dependence of the Soret coefficient on the concentration of the anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), applying an empirical thermodynamic approach accounting for chemical contributions.

Carbon fluoroxide nanoparticles as fluorescent labels and sonosensitizers for theranostic applications.

Carbon fluoroxide (CFO) nanoparticles (NPs) produced from silicon carbide wafers are used as both fluorescent probes and sonosensitizers for theranostic application. In vitro cell tests were carried out to investigate the feasibility of ultrasound-based therapy with the use of the CFO NPs. The NPs that penetrated inside the cells were shown to provoke cell destruction after application of an ultrasound treatment. No significant toxic effect was observed when the cells were treated with NP concentrations up to 0.5 mg ml-1 without applying ultrasound treatment. The obtained results open a new way toward cancer therapy strategies.

Enzyme biosensor systems based on porous silicon photoluminescence for detection of glucose, urea and heavy metals.

A phenomenon of changes in photoluminescence of porous silicon at variations in medium pH is proposed to be used as a basis for the biosensor system development. The method of conversion of a biochemical signal into an optical one is applied for direct determination of glucose and urea as well as for inhibitory analysis of heavy metal ions. Changes in the quantum yield of porous silicon photoluminescence occur at varying pH of the tested solution due to the enzyme-substrate reaction. When creating the biosensor systems, the enzymes urease and glucose oxidase (GOD) were used as a bioselective material; their optimal concentrations were experimentally determined. It was shown that the photoluminescence intensity of porous silicon increased by 1.7 times when increasing glucose concentration in the GOD-containing reaction medium from 0 to 3.0mM, and decreased by 1.45 times at the same increase in the urea concentration in the urease-containing reaction medium. The calibration curves of dependence of the biosensor system responses on the substrate concentrations are presented. It is shown that the presence of heavy metal ions (Cu(2+), Pb(2+), and Cd(2+)) in the tested solution causes an inhibition of the enzymatic reactions catalyzed by glucose oxidase and urease, which results in a restoration of the photoluminescence quantum yield of porous silicon. It is proposed to use this effect for the inhibitory analysis of heavy metal ions.