Spontaneous shrinking of soft nanoparticles boosts their diffusion in confined media
Spontaneous shrinking of soft nanoparticles boosts their diffusion in confined media
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DOI：
10.1038/s41467-019-12246-x
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发表时间：
2019-09-20
影响因子：
16.6
通讯作者：
Banquyf, Xavier
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Latreille, Pierre-Luc;Adibnia, Vahid;Banquyf, Xavier
改善纳米粒子(NPs)跨越生物屏障的传输是一项重大挑战，可以通过了解NPs在致密和受限介质中的扩散来解决。在这里，我们报告了与硬的、不可变形的粒子相比，软NPs在受限环境中收缩的能力，从而促进了它们的扩散。我们通过在琼脂糖凝胶中嵌入微凝胶纳米粒来证明这一行为。收缩的原因似乎与NPs和琼脂纤维周围的双静电层(EDL)重叠有关。事实上，研究表明，通过增加介质的离子强度来屏蔽EDL相互作用，可以防止软颗粒的收缩。缩小的NP在琼脂糖凝胶中扩散的速度比硬NP快2个数量级。这些发现为在拥挤的环境中远程相互作用对软NPs动力学的作用提供了有价值的见解，并有助于合理设计更有效的基于NP的交通系统。
Improving nanoparticles (NPs) transport across biological barriers is a significant challenge that could be addressed through understanding NPs diffusion in dense and confined media. Here, we report the ability of soft NPs to shrink in confined environments, therefore boosting their diffusion compared to hard, non-deformable particles. We demonstrate this behavior by embedding microgel NPs in agarose gels. The origin of the shrinking appears to be related to the overlap of the electrostatic double layers (EDL) surrounding the NPs and the agarose fibres. Indeed, it is shown that screening the EDL interactions, by increasing the ionic strength of the medium, prevents the soft particle shrinkage. The shrunken NPs diffuse up to 2 orders of magnitude faster in agarose gel than their hard NP counterparts. These findings provide valuable insights on the role of long range interactions on soft NPs dynamics in crowded environments, and help rationalize the design of more efficient NP-based transport systems.