Effects of surface functional groups on the formation of nanoparticle-protein corona

TL;DR

This study investigates how different surface functional groups on nanoparticles influence protein corona formation, revealing that surface chemistry significantly affects protein adsorption and stability.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the role of surface functional groups in nanoparticle-protein interactions, especially in the context of silver nanoparticles prepared by laser ablation.

Findings

Uncoated silver nanoparticles promote maximum BSA coating.

Surface functional groups affect protein adsorption efficiency.

Electrostatically stabilized nanoparticles show lower protein affinity.

Abstract

Herein, we examined the dependence of protein adsorption on the nanoparticle surface in the presence of functional groups. Our UV-visible spectrophotometry, transmission electron microscopy, infrared spectroscopy and dynamic light scattering measurements evidently suggested that the functional groups play an important role in the formation of nanoparticle-protein corona. We found that uncoated and surfactant-free silver nanoparticles derived from a laser ablation process promoted a maximum protein (bovine serum albumin) coating due to increased changes in entropy. On the other hand, BSA displayed a lower affinity for electrostatically stabilized nanoparticles due to the constrained entropy changes.