| Posted: Aug 26, 2014 | |
Silver nanoparticles with new optical properties for biomedical applications and sensors |
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| (Nanowerk News) For his PhD thesis Pedro José Rivero, graduate in Chemistry and Biochemistry, carried out research into the synthesis of silver nanoparticles and their subsequent incorporation into ultra-thin coatings. | |
 Pedro Jose Rivero Highlighted amongst the possible applications of this development is the manufacture of antibacterial coatings, “that are efficient due to the biocide effect of the silver, and are thus of great interest in biomedical applications such as bactericides, fungicides, and antiviral or healing agents”. Another application of this research is the development, design and manufacture of a new type of optic fibre sensor, based on the simultaneous generation of two optical phenomena in the same device. These sensors enable obtaining more precise measurements of various physical, chemical and biological parameters. “It has been shown that the devices made with silver nanoparticles leads to response times greater than the conventional ones and have great stability and durability over time”, explained the researcher. |
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| The PhD thesis is entitled “Contribution to the development of functional nanostructured coatings based on silver nanoparticles”. | |
| In the order of nanometric magnitude, the materials have new or enhanced properties that are not obtained at a large scale, and thus the scientific interest in developing and manufacturing new nanostructured coatings with new properties. | |
| The synthesis route for the silver nanoparticles proposed in this PhD thesis is undertaken in an aqueous medium, with no need to use environmentally harmful organic reagents. The nanoparticles are obtained at ambient temperature and, by means of precise control of various parameters (pH, proportion of silver ions, encapsulating agent, etc.), nanoparticles with a great variety of shapes are obtained (spherical, cubic, triangular, rectangular or hexagonal), sizes (nanometric or micrometric), colours (orange, violet, green, blue, brown, yellow or red), and state of aggregation (monodispersed/polydispersed). |
| Source: Public University of Navarre |