Content area
Nanomaterials have demonstrated great potential in healthcare applications, including cancer therapeutics, biosensing, and drug delivery. At the core of these applications are nanoconstructs which constitute of nanoparticle (NP) cores and functionalized ligand shells. The physical and chemical properties of those nanoconstructs must be precisely engineered to achieve optimal performance. While conventional design parameters such as materials composition, size, surface charge, and ligand identity are well-established, nanoscale feature has emerged as a critical yet underexplored factor of function. Prior studies have shown that anisotropic gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) with nanospikes show enhanced targeting efficacy and therapeutic performance relative to spherical counterparts. However, the mechanistic understanding of the structure-function relationship of nanospikes remains inconclusive, limiting the application of anisotropic AuNP in healthcare field.
This dissertation investigates the unique properties of gold nanoscale spikes where interesting phenomena happen at those high-curvature regions (radii <10 nm). Chapter 1 introduces the synthesis of spiky features and the growing importance of shape engineering in therapeutics and biosensing application. Chapter 2 demonstrates that length scale accessible at the tips of nanospikes can achieve selective targeting of receptors on cell membrane. We used single particle tracking technique to characterize the interactions between nanoconstructs and receptors to elucidate the importance of spatially controlled ligand presentation in cancer therapeutics. Chapter 3 explores the electrical properties of nanospikes and their antifouling behavior in electrochemical biosensors. Chapter 4 outlines an initial exploration into the plasmonic contributions of nanospikes for dual-model characterization platform. Collectively, these studies establish the structure–function relationships of nanospikes and provide foundational insights for the rational design of anisotropic nanoconstructs in biomedical and sensing applications.