A team of chemists working at the Carnegie Mellon University recently showcased synthetic nanoparticles are capable of achieving the similar level of structural complexity, precision, and hierarchy as a natural counterparts – the biomolecules. The study brings forth the atomic-level procedures that are behind the self-assembly of nanoparticles. These findings that come from the laboratory of Chemistry of Professor Rongchao Jin offers researchers with a significant window into the formation of nanoparticles. It will help you in understanding the nanoparticles construction process along with the one that can be used in manufacturing of computer chips as well as creation of new stuff as well as in development of several new kind of drugs and medicine delivery instruments.
Jin says, “Most people think that nanoparticles are simple things, because they are so small. But when we look at nanoparticles at the atomic level, we found that they are full of wonders.” The size of nanoparticles usually falls between 1-100 nanometers. It is not easy to create particles that fall on the larger end of nanoscale. Jin has been in the leading position in formation of gold nanoparticles for more than a decade. The first step of the procedure is establishment of a structure of a very small Au25 nanocluster and then go on working for a bigger and bigger sizes. In 2015, his lab made use of X-ray crystallography to set the structure of an Au135 nanoparticle and discovered that it had complicated, self-arranged patterns that mimicked the patterns found in nature.
In the present study, they tried to discover the mechanisms that led to formation of patterns. The researchers were led by Chenjie Zeng, a graduate student, established Au246 structure which is one of the biggest and most complicated nanoparticle that have been created by scientists till date. It is also one of the biggest gold nanoparticles that will have a structure that can be determined with X-ray crystallography.
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