Abstract
An oil-swollen surfactant membrane is employed to measure the effects of incorporated hydrophobically functionalized gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) on the structure and dynamics of the membranes. While maintaining an average AuNP diameter of approximately 5 nm, the membrane thickness was varied from 5 nm to 7.5 nm by changing the amount of oil in the membrane. The membranes become softer as the proportion of oil is increased, while the thickness fluctuations become slower. We attribute this to an increased fluctuation wavelength. Incorporation of AuNPs in the membrane induces membrane thinning and softening. Oil molecules surround the nanoparticles in the membrane and help their relatively homogeneous distribution. AuNPs significantly alter the membrane's structure and dynamics through thinning of the membrane, increased compressibility, and possible diffusion of AuNPs inside the membrane.
Highlights
In biomedical applications, nanotechnologies provide unique capabilities for drug and gene delivery, diagnosis and treatment of various diseases, biosensors, imaging, and disease therapy
Neutron spin echo (NSE) spectroscopy offers a unique way of examining membrane motions on the nanometer and nanosecond scales, which is well suited to measure collective membrane fluctuations of these systems
We have demonstrated that the incorporation of a AuNP into an oil-swollen surfactant bilayer has a significant effect on the dynamics of the bilayer and that the magnitude of these effects are dependent on the concentration of the added AuNP
Summary
Nanotechnologies provide unique capabilities for drug and gene delivery, diagnosis and treatment of various diseases, biosensors, imaging, and disease therapy. The system can contain both hydrophilic and hydrophobic drugs for delivery, while encapsulation of chemical agents can reduce toxicity. These systems have been intensively studied due to these potential biomedical applications, and many review articles appear in the literature.[1,2,3] A new generation of liposome applications, external or environmental stimuli responsive liposomes, has been designed and prepared for targeted drug release with various imaging capabilities.[4,5,6] For such applications, organic, inorganic or metal nanoparticles (NPs) are encapsulated into liposomes to probe new functionality potential
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