Synthesis and characterization of [Zn(acetate)(amine)] compounds (x = 1 or 2) and their use as precursors to ZnO.

As an obvious candidate for a p-type dopant in ZnO, nitrogen remains elusive in this role. Nitrogen containing precursors are a potential means to incorporate nitrogen during MOCVD growth. One class of nitrogen-containing precursors are zinc acetate amines, yet, they have received little attention.

Tuning the properties of ZnO, hematite, and Ag nanoparticles by adjusting the surface charge.

A poly (acryl acid) (PAA) post-treatment method is performed to modify the surface charge of ZnO nanospheres, hematite nanocubes, and Ag nanoprisms from highly positive to very negative by adjusting the PAA concentration, to and greatly modify their photoluminescence, cytotoxicity, magnetism, and surface plasmon resonance. This method provides a general way to tune the nanoparticle properties for broad physicochemical and biological applications.

Improving the selective cancer killing ability of ZnO nanoparticles using Fe doping.

This work reports a new method to improve our recent demonstration of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles (NPs) selectively killing certain human cancer cells, achieved by incorporating Fe ions into the NPs. Thoroughly characterized cationic ZnO NPs (∼6 nm) doped with Fe ions (Zn(1-x )Fe (x) O, x = 0-0.15) were used in this work, applied at a concentration of 24 μg/ml.

Highly shape-selective synthesis, silica coating, self-assembly, and magnetic hydrogen sensing of hematite nanoparticles.

The open forced hydrolysis method and controllable silica growth based on bound water to polyvinylpyrrolidone molecules have been developed for the highly shape (including rhombohedra, semispheres, and rods) selective synthesis, self-assembly, and uniform silica coating (in the unprecedented range of 5-200 nm) of hematite nanoparticles. The open system realizes the direct short-range self-assembly of hematite semispheres in their growth process. The bound water method has been extended to coat gold nanoparticles with tunable silica shell and directly assemble the cores into one-dimensional, dimer, and trimer nanostructures during the coating process.

Electrostatic interactions affect nanoparticle-mediated toxicity to gram-negative bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1.

Nanoscale materials can have cytotoxic effects. Here we present the first combined empirical and theoretical investigation of the influence of electrostatic attraction on nanoparticle cytotoxicity. Modeling electrostatic interactions between cells and 13 nm spheres of zinc oxide nanoparticles provided insight into empirically determined variations of the minimum inhibitory concentrations between four differently charged isogenic strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1.

The Influences of Cell Type and ZnO Nanoparticle Size on Immune Cell Cytotoxicity and Cytokine Induction.

Nanotechnology represents a new and enabling platform that promises to provide a range of innovative technologies for biological applications. ZnO nanoparticles of controlled size were synthesized, and their cytotoxicity toward different human immune cells evaluated. A differential cytotoxic response between human immune cell subsets was observed, with lymphocytes being the most resistant and monocytes being the most susceptible to ZnO nanoparticle-induced toxicity.