J. Niehaus, T. Jochum, H. Weller
CAN,
Germany
Keywords: quantum dots, gold nanoparticles, iron oxide, toxicity
Summary:
To study these influence factors, CAN has chosen three different types of nanoparticles: semiconductors, so called quantum dots, metallic nanoparticles and metal oxides. To cover all aspects of quantum dots Cadmium containing dots and cadmium free particles were both studied. Also the size, shape (dots and rods) and possible isolation layers like ZnS were varied. In addition the ligand shell was modified so that the particles were either shielded by small molecules or even encapsulated in polymers. In case of metallic nanoparticles gold particles were synthesized in different sizes (20 – 80 nm) and shapes (dots and rods). Again, the ligand shell was also varied. For metal oxides iron oxide nanoparticles with sizes between 4 and 20 nm were used and the ligand shell was varied. We will show how these particles were synthesized and analyzed by different methods like TEM, XRD, absorption and emission spectroscopy and TGA. We will also show the results of a toxicity assay and correlate the result of the assay with the properties of the nanoparticles.