Generation, collection and characterization of nanoparticles and their diffusion in arbitrary tumor and normal tissue geometry

Abstract

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Nanoparticles have unique electronic, optical, mechanical, magnetic and chemical properties that are significantly different from those of the bulk materials. Because of this, such particles are of interest in a range of areas for example nuclear reactor safety, cancer diagnosis and therapy. In this work we have used a spark aerosol generator to generate carbon, gold, silver, and palladium nanoparticles. We have measured the size distribution of these nanoparticles using a Scanning Mobility Particle Spectrometer. We designed a nanoparticle collection cell to collect the nanoparticles efficiently, analyzed the nanoparticles for shape and size using Tunneling Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy (ESEM). We observed that the nanoparticle deposition is enhanced by thermophoresis. Nanoparticle production rate and size distribution (peak concentration size) can be conveniently controlled through the spark frequency. The particle size distribution also widens with increasing frequency which is indicative of particle coagulation. We have also explored the use of the Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) code FLUENT (Ansys) to compute the deposition mass fractions of carbon, gold, silver, and palladium nanoparticles in our deposition cell to elucidate the role of the thermophoresis in our sample collection. Understanding of diffusion and accumulation of nanoparticles in tissues and tumors is important in drug delivery using nanoparticles. We have explored both analytical and CFD applications in this area, and obtained useful insights.