A Microwave-Assisted Synthesis of Zinc Oxide Nanocrystals Finely Tuned for Biological Applications
Type
ArticleAuthors
Garino, NadiaLimongi, Tania
Dumontel, Bianca
Canta, Marta
Racca, Luisa
Laurenti, Marco
Castellino, Micaela
Casu, Alberto
Falqui, Andrea

Cauda, Valentina
KAUST Department
Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering (BESE) DivisionBioscience Program
Date
2019-02-06Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/631049
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Herein we report a novel, easy, fast and reliable microwave-assisted synthesis procedure for the preparation of colloidal zinc oxide nanocrystals (ZnO NCs) optimized for biological applications. ZnO NCs are also prepared by a conventional solvo-thermal approach and the properties of the two families of NCs are compared and discussed. All of the NCs are fully characterized in terms of morphological analysis, crystalline structure, chemical composition and optical properties, both as pristine nanomaterials or after amino-propyl group functionalization. Compared to the conventional approach, the novel microwave-derived ZnO NCs demonstrate outstanding colloidal stability in ethanol and water with long shelf-life. Furthermore, together with their more uniform size, shape and chemical surface properties, this long-term colloidal stability also contributes to the highly reproducible data in terms of biocompatibility. Actually, a significantly different biological behavior of the microwave-synthesized ZnO NCs is reported with respect to NCs prepared by the conventional synthesis procedure. In particular, consistent cytotoxicity and highly reproducible cell uptake toward KB cancer cells are measured with the use of microwave-synthesized ZnO NCs, in contrast to the non-reproducible and scattered data obtained with the conventionally-synthesized ones. Thus, we demonstrate how the synthetic route and, as a consequence, the control over all the nanomaterial properties are prominent points to be considered when dealing with the biological world for the achievement of reproducible and reliable results, and how the use of commercially-available and under-characterized nanomaterials should be discouraged in this view.Citation
Garino N, Limongi T, Dumontel B, Canta M, Racca L, et al. (2019) A Microwave-Assisted Synthesis of Zinc Oxide Nanocrystals Finely Tuned for Biological Applications. Nanomaterials 9: 212. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nano9020212.Sponsors
This work has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement No 678151–Project Acronym “TROJANANOHORSE”–ERC starting Grant).Publisher
MDPI AGJournal
NanomaterialsAdditional Links
https://www.mdpi.com/2079-4991/9/2/212ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.3390/nano9020212
Scopus Count
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).