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Nano Research 2013, 6(11): 822-835 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-013-0360-4
Research Article | Issue | Published: 04 September 2013

Gold nanorods core/AgPt alloy nanodots shell: A novel potent antibacterial nanostructure

Show Author's Information Xiaona Hu1,3,§,  Yuyun Zhao2,§,  Zhijian Hu1,  Aditya Saran1,3,  Shuai Hou1,3,  Tao Wen1,3,  Wenqi Liu1,3,  Yinglu Ji1,  Xingyu Jiang2( ),  Xiaochun Wu1( )
CAS Key Laboratory of Standardization and Measurement for Nanotechnology National Center for Nanoscience and TechnologyBeijing 100190 China
CAS Key Laboratory for Biological Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety National Center for Nanoscience and TechnologyBeijing 100190 China
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing 100049 China

§These two authors contributed equally to the work.

Keywords:
gold nanorods, photothermal effect, AgPt, antibacterial activities, composition-dependence
Cite this article:
Hu X, Zhao Y, Hu Z, et al. Gold nanorods core/AgPt alloy nanodots shell: A novel potent antibacterial nanostructure. Nano Research, 2013, 6(11): 822-835. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-013-0360-4
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

In the light of the current problems of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) in terms of antibacterial performance, we have designed a novel trimetallic core/shell nanostructure with AgPt alloy nanodots epitaxially grown on gold nanorods (Au@PtAg NRs) as a potential antibacterial agent. Both Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) were studied. The antibacterial activity exhibits an obvious composition-dependence. On increasing the Ag fraction in the alloy shell up to 80%, the antibacterial activity gradually increases, demonstrating a flexible way to tune this activity. At 80% Ag, the antibacterial activity is better than that of a pure Ag shell. The improved antibacterial ability mainly results from the high exposure of silver on the shell surface due to the dot morphology. We thus demonstrate that forming alloys is an effective way to improve antibacterial activity while retaining high chemical stability for Ag-based nanomaterials. Furthermore, due to the tunable localized surface plasmonic response in the near-infrared (NIR) spectral region, additional control over antibacterial activity using light—such as photothermal killing and photo-triggered silver ion release—is expected. As a demonstration, highly enhanced antibacterial activity is shown by utilizing the NIR photothermal effect of the nanostructures. Our results indicate that such tailored nanostructures will find a role in the future fight against bacteria, including the challenge of the increasing severity of multidrug resistance.


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Abstract
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Electronic supplementary material
About this article

Gold nanorods core/AgPt alloy nanodots shell: A novel potent antibacterial nanostructure

Show Author's information Xiaona Hu1,3,§, Yuyun Zhao2,§, Zhijian Hu1, Aditya Saran1,3, Shuai Hou1,3, Tao Wen1,3, Wenqi Liu1,3, Yinglu Ji1, Xingyu Jiang2( ), Xiaochun Wu1( )
CAS Key Laboratory of Standardization and Measurement for Nanotechnology National Center for Nanoscience and TechnologyBeijing 100190 China
CAS Key Laboratory for Biological Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety National Center for Nanoscience and TechnologyBeijing 100190 China
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing 100049 China

§These two authors contributed equally to the work.

Abstract

In the light of the current problems of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) in terms of antibacterial performance, we have designed a novel trimetallic core/shell nanostructure with AgPt alloy nanodots epitaxially grown on gold nanorods (Au@PtAg NRs) as a potential antibacterial agent. Both Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) were studied. The antibacterial activity exhibits an obvious composition-dependence. On increasing the Ag fraction in the alloy shell up to 80%, the antibacterial activity gradually increases, demonstrating a flexible way to tune this activity. At 80% Ag, the antibacterial activity is better than that of a pure Ag shell. The improved antibacterial ability mainly results from the high exposure of silver on the shell surface due to the dot morphology. We thus demonstrate that forming alloys is an effective way to improve antibacterial activity while retaining high chemical stability for Ag-based nanomaterials. Furthermore, due to the tunable localized surface plasmonic response in the near-infrared (NIR) spectral region, additional control over antibacterial activity using light—such as photothermal killing and photo-triggered silver ion release—is expected. As a demonstration, highly enhanced antibacterial activity is shown by utilizing the NIR photothermal effect of the nanostructures. Our results indicate that such tailored nanostructures will find a role in the future fight against bacteria, including the challenge of the increasing severity of multidrug resistance.

Keywords: gold nanorods, photothermal effect, AgPt, antibacterial activities, composition-dependence

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Publication history
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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 05 June 2013
Revised: 04 August 2013
Accepted: 08 August 2013
Published: 04 September 2013
Issue date: November 2013

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

The authors appreciate financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 21173056, 21105018, and 21025520), the National Key Basic Research Program of China (Nos. 2012CB934001 and 2011CB932802) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. KJCX2-YW-M15).

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