We report a physical explanation for the phenomenon wherein the backscattering of light by dielectric particles of sizes between 100 and 1 nm is enhanced by 7-11 orders of magnitude. The phenomenon involves complex composite interactions between a dielectric microsphere and a nanoparticle positioned in close proximity to the microsphere. We provide both analytical and perturbation analyses that...

In this study, silica coated Au nanospheres (Au@SiO2) were prepared by a reverse microemulsion method; subsequently, a layer of fluorescent quantum dots (QDs) were adsorbed onto it and then it was coated with silica again. After modifying with PVP, the composite silica coated gold nanosphere and quantum dots nanoparticle (Au@SiO2-QDs/SiO2-PVP) was obtained. This composite structure contained Au...

The Laser-Induced Breakdown Detection technique (LIBD) was adapted to achieve fast in-situ characterization of nanoparticle beams focused under vacuum by an aerodynamic lens. The method employs a tightly focused, 21 μm, scanning laser microprobe which generates a local plasma induced by the laser interaction with a single particle. A counting mode optical detection allows the achievement of 2D ...

The use of polymers from natural resources can bring many benefits for novel polymeric nanoparticle systems. Such polymers have a variety of beneficial properties such as biodegradability and biocompatibility, they are readily available on large scale and at low cost. As the amount of fossil fuels decrease, their application becomes more interesting even if characterization is in many cases mor...

A selection of recent results illustrating the application of off-axis electron holography to the study of magnetic microstructure in closely-spaced nanoparticles and nanowires is reviewed. Examples are taken from the characterization of FeNi nanoparticle chains, Co nanoparticle rings, two-dimensional arrays of naturally occurring magnetite crystals in minerals, and single crystalline Co nanowi...

We report on the fabrication and characterization of iron oxide nanoparticle thin film superlattices. The formation into different film morphologies is controlled by tuning the particle plus solvent-to-substrate interaction. It turns out that the wetting vs dewetting properties of the solvent before the self-assembly process during solvent evaporation plays a major role in determining the resul...

Nanomedicine is a promising application of nanotechnology in medicine, which can drastically improve drug delivery efficiency through targeted delivery. However, characterization of the nanoparticle targeted delivery process under vascular environment is very challenging due to the small scale of nanoparticles and the complex in vivo vascular system. To understand such complicated system, vario...

MOLECULAR CRYSTALLIZATION DIRECTED BY NANOPARTICLESAND NANOPATTERNS byLI LIAugust 2013Advisor: Dr. Guangzhao MaoMajor: Materials Science and EngineeringDegree: Doctor of PhilosophyThis dissertation focuses on nanoparticle/nanopattern-induced molecularself-assembly and crystallization. We propose a universal strategy to synthesizeorganic/inorganic hybrid n...

There is a growing recognition that nanoparticles and other nanostructured materials are sometimes inadequately characterized and that this may limit or even invalidate some of the conclusions regarding particle properties and behavior. A number of international organizations are working to establish the essential measurement requirements that enable adequate understanding of nanoparticle prope...

The self-assembly of DNA-conjugated nanoparticles represents a promising avenue toward the design of engineered hierarchical materials. By using DNA to encode nanoscale interactions, macroscale crystals can be formed with mechanical properties that can, at least in principle, be tuned. Here we present in silico evidence that the mechanical response of these assemblies can indeed be controlled, ...