Issue 50, 2020

High-throughput in-focus differential interference contrast imaging of three-dimensional orientations of single gold nanorods coated with a mesoporous silica shell

Abstract

Plasmonic gold nanorods (AuNRs) have been widely applied as optical orientation probes in many biophysical studies. However, characterizing the various three-dimensional (3D) orientations of AuNRs in the same focal plane of the objective lens is a challenging task. To overcome this challenge, we fabricated single AuNRs (10 nm × 30 nm) coated with either an elliptical or spherical mesoporous silica shell (AuNRs@mSiO2). Unlike bare AuNRs and elliptical AuNRs@mSiO2, spherical AuNRs@mSiO2 contained randomly oriented AuNR cores in 3D space, which could be observed on the same focal plane within a single frame by differential interference contrast (DIC) microscopy. The spherical AuNRs@mSiO2 thus achieved high-throughput detection. The proposed approach can overcome the limitations of the current gel-matrix method, which requires vertical scanning of the embedded AuNRs to capture different focal planes.

Graphical abstract: High-throughput in-focus differential interference contrast imaging of three-dimensional orientations of single gold nanorods coated with a mesoporous silica shell

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
28 May 2020
Accepted
02 Aug 2020
First published
12 Aug 2020
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

RSC Adv., 2020,10, 29868-29872

High-throughput in-focus differential interference contrast imaging of three-dimensional orientations of single gold nanorods coated with a mesoporous silica shell

G. W. Kim, S. Yoon, J. H. Lee and J. W. Ha, RSC Adv., 2020, 10, 29868 DOI: 10.1039/D0RA04704J

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