Aggregation behavior of nanoparticles: Revisiting the phase diagram of colloids
Surface functionalization of metal nanoparticles (NPs), e.g., using peptides and proteins, has recently attracted a considerable attention in the field of design of therapeutics and diagnostics. The possibility of diverse functionalization allows them to selectively interact with proteins, while the...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-09-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmolb.2022.986223/full |
| _version_ | 1798036446632738816 |
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| author | Margherita Bini Giorgia Brancolini Valentina Tozzini |
| author_facet | Margherita Bini Giorgia Brancolini Valentina Tozzini |
| author_sort | Margherita Bini |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Surface functionalization of metal nanoparticles (NPs), e.g., using peptides and proteins, has recently attracted a considerable attention in the field of design of therapeutics and diagnostics. The possibility of diverse functionalization allows them to selectively interact with proteins, while the metal core ensures solubility, making them tunable therapeutic agents against diseases due to mis-folding or aggregation. On the other hand, their action is limited by possible self-aggregation, which could be, however, prevented based on the full understanding of their phase diagram as a function of the environmental variables (temperature, ionic strength of the solution, concentration) and intrinsic characteristics (size, charge, amount, and type of functional groups). A common modeling strategy to study the phase behavior is to represent the NPs as spheres interacting via effective potentials implicitly accounting for the solvation effects. Their size put the NPs into the class of colloids, albeit with particularly complex interactions including both attractive and repulsive features, and a consequently complex phase diagram. In this work, we review the studies exploring the phases of these systems starting from those with only attractive or repulsive interactions, displaying a simpler disperse-clustered-aggregated transitions. The phase diagram is here interpreted focusing on the universal aspects, i.e., those dependent on the general feature of the potentials, and available data are organized in a parametric phase diagram. We then consider the potentials with competing attractive short range well and average-long-range repulsive tail, better representing the NPs. Through the proper combination of the attractive only and repulsive only potentials, we are able to interpret the appearance of novel phases, characterized by aggregates with different structural characteristics. We identify the essential parameters that stabilize the disperse phase potentially useful to optimize NP therapeutic activity and indicate how to tune the phase behavior by changing environmental conditions or the NP chemical–physical properties. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T21:13:05Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-81e478ccf7a14a6a9333d79ccd984432 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-889X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T21:13:05Z |
| publishDate | 2022-09-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-81e478ccf7a14a6a9333d79ccd9844322022-12-22T04:02:58ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences2296-889X2022-09-01910.3389/fmolb.2022.986223986223Aggregation behavior of nanoparticles: Revisiting the phase diagram of colloidsMargherita Bini0Giorgia Brancolini1Valentina Tozzini2Istituto Nanoscienze—CNR, Lab NEST SNS, Pisa, ItalyIstituto Nanoscienze—CNR, Center S3, Modena, ItalyIstituto Nanoscienze—CNR, Lab NEST SNS, Pisa, ItalySurface functionalization of metal nanoparticles (NPs), e.g., using peptides and proteins, has recently attracted a considerable attention in the field of design of therapeutics and diagnostics. The possibility of diverse functionalization allows them to selectively interact with proteins, while the metal core ensures solubility, making them tunable therapeutic agents against diseases due to mis-folding or aggregation. On the other hand, their action is limited by possible self-aggregation, which could be, however, prevented based on the full understanding of their phase diagram as a function of the environmental variables (temperature, ionic strength of the solution, concentration) and intrinsic characteristics (size, charge, amount, and type of functional groups). A common modeling strategy to study the phase behavior is to represent the NPs as spheres interacting via effective potentials implicitly accounting for the solvation effects. Their size put the NPs into the class of colloids, albeit with particularly complex interactions including both attractive and repulsive features, and a consequently complex phase diagram. In this work, we review the studies exploring the phases of these systems starting from those with only attractive or repulsive interactions, displaying a simpler disperse-clustered-aggregated transitions. The phase diagram is here interpreted focusing on the universal aspects, i.e., those dependent on the general feature of the potentials, and available data are organized in a parametric phase diagram. We then consider the potentials with competing attractive short range well and average-long-range repulsive tail, better representing the NPs. Through the proper combination of the attractive only and repulsive only potentials, we are able to interpret the appearance of novel phases, characterized by aggregates with different structural characteristics. We identify the essential parameters that stabilize the disperse phase potentially useful to optimize NP therapeutic activity and indicate how to tune the phase behavior by changing environmental conditions or the NP chemical–physical properties.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmolb.2022.986223/fullbio-functionalized metal nanoparticlescolloidsclassical molecular dynamicslow-resolution modelseffective potentialsaggregation phase diagrams |
| spellingShingle | Margherita Bini Giorgia Brancolini Valentina Tozzini Aggregation behavior of nanoparticles: Revisiting the phase diagram of colloids Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences bio-functionalized metal nanoparticles colloids classical molecular dynamics low-resolution models effective potentials aggregation phase diagrams |
| title | Aggregation behavior of nanoparticles: Revisiting the phase diagram of colloids |
| title_full | Aggregation behavior of nanoparticles: Revisiting the phase diagram of colloids |
| title_fullStr | Aggregation behavior of nanoparticles: Revisiting the phase diagram of colloids |
| title_full_unstemmed | Aggregation behavior of nanoparticles: Revisiting the phase diagram of colloids |
| title_short | Aggregation behavior of nanoparticles: Revisiting the phase diagram of colloids |
| title_sort | aggregation behavior of nanoparticles revisiting the phase diagram of colloids |
| topic | bio-functionalized metal nanoparticles colloids classical molecular dynamics low-resolution models effective potentials aggregation phase diagrams |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmolb.2022.986223/full |
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