Germanium- and tellurium-based glasses have been largely studied due to their recognized potential for photonics. In this paper, we review our recent studies that include the investigation of the Stokes and anti-Stokes photoluminescence (PL) in different glass systems containing metallic and semiconductor nanoparticles (NPs). In the case of the samples with metallic NPs, the enhanced PL was att...

The present study reported on an intrinsic property of gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs), namely their ability to inhibit the proliferation and invasion of thyroid carcinoma cells. Au-NPs of various sizes (5-60 nm) were synthesized and their uptake into the SW579 human thyroid carcinoma cell line was verified using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The viability, apoptosis, cell cycle distribut...

The application of two different optical effects is demonstrated for the detection of strain applied to elastomeric films. On one hand, dense coatings made of silica-coated gold nanoparticles (Au@SiO 2 NPs), which are built up onto poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) elastomeric films, using the layer-by-layer (LbL) method, provide intense surface plasmon resonance (SPR) absorption. On the other hand...

Anatase/rutile mixed titania nanotubes (TiO2 NTs) precipitated with gold nanoparticles (Au NPs), i.e. Au/TiO2, have been synthesized and investigated on visible photocatalysis properties. A deposition-precipitation (DP) method was adopted to reduce the gold precursor to Au NPs within the preformed TiO2 NTs by the emulsion electrospinning technique. The optimal visible photocatalytic activity wa...

To date the self-assembly of ordered metal nanoparticle (NP)/block copolymer hybrid materials has been limited to NPs with core diameters (D(core)) of less than 10 nm, which represents only a very small fraction of NPs with attractive size-dependent physical properties. Here this limitation has been circumvented using amphiphilic brush block copolymers as templates for the self-assembly of orde...

Precise control of elemental configurations within multimetallic nanoparticles (NPs) could enable access to functional nanomaterials with significant performance benefits. This can be achieved down to the atomic level by the disorder-to-order transformation of individual NPs. Here, by systematically controlling the ordering degree, we show that the atomic ordering transformation, applied to AuC...

Optical nanoparticles (NPs) have the potential to provide new tools for diagnosis and treatment of human diseases, however, their nanotoxicity and biological characteristics are still unclear. Here, we prepared a series of typical NPs (including gold nanospheres, gold nanorods, silver nanopheres, silver triangular nanoplates and quantum dots) with different material and surface chemical modific...

Gold and silver nanoparticles (NPs) were prepared in water, acetonitrile and isopropanol by laser ablation methodologies. The average characteristic (longer) size of the NPs obtained ranged from 3 to 70 nm. 4-Aminobenzebethiol (4-ABT) was chosen as the surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) probe molecule to determine the optimum irradiation time and the pH of aqueous synthesis of the laser a...

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was realized on the surface of gold nanoparticles (NPs) as a tool for self-organization at nanoscale and as a step toward programmable production of sufficient quantities of functional metallic superstructures. The assembly is controlled by varying the density of the primer on the surface of gold NPs and the number of PCR cycles generating a mixture of dimers, tr...

The research of the nanoparticle (NP) delivery systems and the use of NPs both for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes have created a need for understanding the complex interactions of NPs with cells. Membrane-NP interactions are of crucial importance both for the cell uptake and toxicological investigations. For that reason, lipids that are the cell membrane building blocks, have been used as ...