Molecular Modifications of Metal Nanoparticles

An important aspect in the nanoparticles field is the to encapsulate nanoparticles or to modify their surfaces with wide variety of molecular ligands such as: Alkythiols, Alkanethiolates, Arenethilate, Alkyl – tri- methyloxysilane, DialkylDisulfides,Xanthates, Oligonucleotides,DNA,Proteins.Sugars, Phospholipids and enzymes.

Encapsulations of a nanoparticles is extremely important for a number of reasons. The capping ligands can protect the nanoparticles from agglomerations – with no protection nanoparticles will bind together and form larger particles which will result in losing their unique properties. The capping ligands will allow surface functionalization that can help obtain specific properties. For example, by using a longer protecting ligand, the distance between the nanoparticles will be larger, thus affecting the analyte volume that can be adsorbed between adjacent nanoparticles. Third reason is a natural combination of first two reasons. Capping ligands allow the achievement of hybrid combination of chemical and physical functions which can have significant effect on the sensitivity and selectivity of the sensors.