Why Purchase From Fortis Life Sciences?
Satisfaction Guaranteed
We stand behind everything we make 100%. If for any reason you are dissatisfied with a material you’ve received, we will do everything in our power to make it right.
Extensive Characterization Data
Each batch of gold nanoparticles is extensively characterized using techniques including transmission electron microscopy (TEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), zeta potential, and UV-Visible spectroscopy. In addition to ensuring that every batch of nanoparticles meets our stringent quality control requirements, customers are provided with batch-specific specification sheets containing representative TEM images, sizing data, hydrodynamic diameter measurements, zeta potential analysis, UV-Visible spectrum, and solution pH.
Full Disclosure
Surface chemistry and suspension buffer details are provided for each material, and no proprietary coatings or mystery chemicals are used. Gold nanoparticle products are available with a range of capping agents including citrate, tannic acid, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), silica, and amine-terminated silica.
Aggregation Free
Due to their small size, low mass, and extremely high surface area:volume ratios, once nanoparticles bind together it is often impossible to separate them. Consequently, most dried gold nanopowders that are resuspended consist of clusters of 100's of individual nanoparticles. For many plasmonics and biomedical applications, this agglomeration significantly degrades performance. At Fortis Life Sciences we have developed custom processing techniques that allow us to concentrate and purify nanoparticles without inducing agglomeration. The particles can be transferred into a variety of different solvents to enable their integration into a wide variety of systems. In addition, we have developed a surface stabilization technique that allows us to produce dried gold nanoparticles that can be redispersed into individual, monodisperse nanoparticles.
Customer Service
Our nanoparticle chemists will address your technical questions and help you select the optimal nanomaterial for your application.
Silica Nanoparticles FAQs
Amorphous. Colloidal silica particles are non-crystalline, meaning that the atoms do not have long-range order, resembling the structure of bulk glass.
Based on the amount of reagent used during the surface functionalization step and the surface area available for the ligand to bind, we calculate a maximum of ~2.5 amine groups/nm2 at the particle surface. This is consistent with literature reports, which estimate approximately two amine groups/nm2.
Depending on orientation, packing density, and other factors, only a portion of the amines may be accessible for conjugation. Further, in some cases there are also amine groups that are incorporated into the silica network below the particle surface, and which contribute to the zeta potential of the particle and can be detected using different characterization methods. Because they are embedded within the silica shell, however, these amines are not accessible for conjugation.