Gold Nanoshells

The Uses of Gold Nanoshells

Owing to their plasmonic properties nanoparticles of gold and silver find broad range of applications extending from diagnostics to molecular detection, photothermal and microwave-based therapies, and nanotoxicology. Colloidal silver nanoparticles also find applications in antimicrobial coatings, electronics and photovoltaics, and surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) whereas the colloidal gold nanoparticles find applications in lateral flow assays (immunochromatographic assays) and as TEM labels and size standards.

Our gold nanoshells are surface plasmon resonant (SPR) nanoparticles consisting of a nanoscale silica core surrounded by an ultra-thin gold shell. By changing the ratio of the core diameter and the shell thickness the absorption and scattering properties of the nanoshells can be tuned across the visible and near-IR (NIR) regions. For these shells the increase in the size of the silica core, and decrease in the thickness of the gold shell causes the plasmon resonance to shift toward the NIR region. This class of plasmonic nanoparticles has a wide variety of applications, including uses in optical filters, sensing and cancer therapy. To increase the steric stability our gold nanoshells are coated with PVP (40 kD polyvinylpyrrolidone).

The Uses of Gold Nanoshells

Owing to their plasmonic properties nanoparticles of gold and silver find broad range of applications extending from diagnostics to molecular detection, photothermal and microwave-based therapies, and nanotoxicology. Colloidal silver nanoparticles also find applications in antimicrobial coatings, electronics and photovoltaics, and surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) whereas the colloidal gold nanoparticles find applications in lateral flow assays (immunochromatographic assays) and as TEM labels and size standards.

Our BioReady materials are engineered for reliable conjugation to antibodies, proteins, peptides, and other biomolecules and are ideal for lateral flow (immunochromatographic assays) and other diagnostics related applications.

The BioReady spherical gold nanoshells are made up of silica core and gold shell and are available with carboxyl, NHS, and streptavidin surface functional groups. These novel gold nanoshells are well suited for lateral flow assay applications. The gold nanoshells show strong absorbance and exhibit greater per-particle signal and, compared to the conventional 40 nm gold nanoparticles, these could enhance the assay sensitivity by 20 fold. Gold surface in these nanoshells is promising as the substitution of gold nanoshells in existing gold nanoparticles-based assays should be easy. The gold nanoshells offer a high contrast blue/gray stripe line (compared to red or pink stripe from 40 nm gold).

Gold nanoshells with carboxyl surface can be used for robust covalent conjugation. This allows for greater stability, sensitivity, reproducibility, and control over particle antibody loading (often requires less antibody compared to passive adsorption). Our covalently-bound streptavidin conjugated gold nanoshells allow easy binding with biotin.

The BioReady conjugation kits contain dried gold nanoshells with NHS-activated carboxyl surface. With pre-functionalized nanoshells with EDC/NHS surface, these are well suited for rapid antibody screening.
The small reaction NHS kits contain 50 μL of 20 OD gold in each unit whereas the large reaction kits contain 500 μL of 20 OD gold in each unit.

General Description

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