Surprises of electron microscopic imaging of proteins and polymers covering gold nanoparticles layer by layer.

Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) are used in complicated nanoconstructions, and their preparation implies careful analysis of the intermediate and resulting products, including visualisation of the NPs. Visualisation of protein and/or organic polymer covers on GNPs using electron microscopy (EM) was a goal of this study. We covered GNPs with human serum albumin or PEG, and then added a second layer of branched or linear polyethyleneimine.