Maurice Retout, Lubna Amer, Wonjun Yim, Matthew N Creyer, Benjamin Lam, Diego F Trujillo, Jan Potempa, Anthony J O'Donoghue, Casey Chen, Jesse V Jokerst
We report the reversible aggregation of silver nanoparticle (AgNP) assemblies using the combination of a cationic arginine-based peptide and sulfur-capped polyethylene glycol (PEG). The formation and dissociation of the aggregates were studied by optical methods and electron microscopy. The dissociation of silver clusters depends on the peptide sequence and PEG size. A molecular weight of 1 kDa for PEG was optimal for the dissociation. The most important feature of this dissociation method is that it can operate in complex biofluids such as plasma, saliva, bile, urine, cell media, or even seawater without a significant decrease in performance...
August 21, 2023: ACS Nano