Plasma Cleaning Gold Nanorods to Make Better Biosensors

This study seeks to improve the efficacy of gold nanorods for use as biosensors.~ Noble metal particles have optical properties that differ from the bulk medium, in particular, they exhibit strong absorbance of light at certain wavelengths.~ The wavelength at which this occurs depends upon the dielectric properties of both the particles and the medium.~ This opens up the possibility of using these nanoparticles as biological sensors.~ The binding of molecules in the vicinity of a noble metal nanoparticle causes a change in the medium dielectric which can be detected by a peak shift in the absorption spectrum of the particles.~ We believe the mPEG-SH, a stabilizing agent, is lowering the sensitivity of the dielectric dependence and that by removing the mPEG-SH, sensitivity can be increased.