Iron Oxide Nanoparticles: A Review on the Province of Its Compounds, Properties and Biological Applications.

Materials science and technology, with the advent of nanotechnology, has brought about innumerable nanomaterials and multi-functional materials, with intriguing yet profound properties, into the scientific realm. Even a minor functionalization of a nanomaterial brings about vast changes in its properties that could be potentially utilized in various applications, particularly for biological applications, as one of the primary needs at present is for point-of-care devices that can provide swifter, accurate, reliable, and reproducible results for the detection of various physiological conditions, or as elements that could increase the resolution of current bio-imaging procedures. In this regard, iron oxide nanoparticles, a major class of metal oxide nanoparticles, have been sweepingly synthesized, characterized, and studied for their essential properties; there are 14 polymorphs that have been reported so far in the literature. With such a background, this review's primary focus is the discussion of the different synthesis methods along with their structural, optical, magnetic, rheological and phase transformation properties. Subsequently, the review has been extrapolated to summarize the effective use of these nanoparticles as contrast agents in bio-imaging, therapeutic agents making use of its immune-toxicity and subsequent usage in hyperthermia for the treatment of cancer, electron transfer agents in copious electrochemical based enzymatic or non-enzymatic biosensors and bactericidal coatings over biomaterials to reduce the biofilm formation significantly.

NiO x Nanoflower Modified Cotton Fabric for UV Filter and Gas Sensing Applications.

Integration of multifunctional nanomaterials with textiles could be a significant value addition to the bright future of the growing technology "Technical Textiles". Development of textiles with antielectromagnetic radiation and in particular antiultraviolet features could be one of the best solutions to the ozone depletion induced ultraviolet pollution of the environment, which is a major concern in the context of surging skin cancer cases. In this background, multifunctional nanoflower structured partial hydroxide nickel oxide (NiO x) was grown on cotton fabric using a chemical bath deposition technique for the development of UV filter and flexible gas/chemical sensor. X-ray diffraction patterns of bare and NiO x modified cotton fabrics confirmed the micro and poly crystalline nature, respectively. Field emission scanning electron microscopic images revealed the growth of 3D green button chrysanthemum flower-like morphology on the surface of cotton fabric. In addition, X-ray photoelectron spectra revealed the presence of nickel, carbon, and oxygen elements in the NiO x modified cotton cellulose. The increase in hydrophobic nature of surface-treated fabric was observed using a goniometer. A differential scanning calorimeter trace for bare and surface modified cotton fabrics exhibited endothermic behavior at the characteristic onset temperature. The results of thermogravimetric analysis revealed the enhanced thermal stability of up to 800 °C for the surface-treated fabric compared to bare cotton. Further, the ultraviolet protection factor (UPF) of the NiO x nanoflower modified cotton fabric was measured using an in vitro method following the AATCC 183:2004 standard using a UV transmittance analyzer. The enhanced absorbance of ultraviolet rays at 388 nm resulted in the UPF of 2000. The chemical/gas sensing features of the surface modified textile samples were investigated using the homemade gas testing chamber. NiO x modified fabric showed a selective response of 12431 toward trimethylamine at room temperature.

Development of an acetone sensor using nanostructured Co3O4 thin films for exhaled breath analysis.

In recent times, the development of breath sensors for the detection of Diabetic Keto-Acidosis (DKA) has been gaining prominent importance in the field of health care and advanced diagnostics. Acetone is one of the prominent biomarkers in the exhaled breath of persons affected by DKA. In this background, nanostructured cobalt oxide sensing elements were fabricated using a spray pyrolysis technique at different deposition temperatures (473 to 773 K in steps of 100 K) towards the fabrication of an acetone sensor. The influence of deposition temperature on the various properties of the nanostructured cobalt oxide thin films was investigated. Formation of cubic spinel phase cobalt oxide was confirmed from the structural analysis. The shifting of plane orientation from (3 1 1) to (2 2 0) at 773 K deposition temperature revealed the migration of cobalt atoms to the highly favorable energy positions. Further, the downshifted peak absorption wavelength and upshifted PL profile at higher deposition temperature confirmed the migration of cobalt ions. The sensor fabricated at higher deposition temperature (773 K) showed a sensing response of 235 at room temperature towards 50 ppm of acetone. Also, the fabricated sensor showed a lower detection limit (LOD) of 1 ppm with the response-recovery times of 6 and 4 s, respectively. The LOD reported here is lower than the minimum threshold level (1.71 ppm) signifying the presence of DKA.

Nanotechnology-based electrochemical detection strategies for hypertension markers.

Hypertension results due to dysfunction of different metabolic pathways leading to the increased risk of cerebral ischemia, atherosclerosis, cardiovascular and inflammatory disorders. Hypertension has been considered a one of the major contributors to metabolic syndrome and is often referred to as a 'silent killer'. Its incidence is on the rise across the globe owing to the drastic life style changes. The diagnosis of hypertension had been traditionally carried out through measurement of systolic and diastolic blood pressure but in most cases, this form of diagnosis is too late and the disease has already caused organ damage. Therefore, early detection of hypertension by monitoring subtle changes in specific biochemical markers from body fluids can minimize the risk of organ damage. However, a single marker may be insufficient for accurate diagnosis of hypertension thereby necessitating quantification of multiple markers. Concerted efforts to identify key markers for hypertension and their quantification, especially using chemical and biosensors, are underway in different parts of the world. Constant evolution of the sensing elements and transduction strategies have contributed to significant improvements in the diagnosis field, especially in the context of sensitivity, response time and selectivity and this when applied to the detection of hypertension markers may prove beneficial. This review summarizes advances in the field of sensor technology towards the detection of biologically relevant entities, arrays and the next generation 'lab-on-a-chip' systems for hypertension.

Fabrication of Electrochemical Biosensor with ZnO-PVA Nanocomposite Interface for the Detection of Hydrogen Peroxide.

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is considered to be highly toxic and its increased concentration in human body may lead to diseases like alzheimer's, parkinson's, cardiovascular, tumor and cancer. Hence, there is an increasing demand for the detection of H2O2 in human blood serum. In this context, an electrochemical sensor was developed using zinc oxide-polyvinyl alcohol (ZnO-PVA) nanocomposite as a nano-interface. The fabricated Au/ZnO-PVA/CAT/Chitosan bio-electrode exhibited a well-defined redox peak with anodic and cathodic peak potential of -0.408 V and 0.259 V for Fe(III):Fe(II) and H2O2:1/2 O2 redox couples respectively. The developed biosensor exhibited a linear range of 1 µM-17 µM with a sensitivity of 210.49 µA µM-1 cm-2, response time of less than 1 s, limit of detection of 9.13 nM and a limit of quantification of 30.13 nM. The developed bio-electrode showed a Michaelis-Menten constant (KM) of 0.39 µM and dry stability of 93% up to 20 days. The obtained biosensor was successfully utilized to determine the H2O2 concentration in human blood serum sample.

Design and Development of Acetylthiocholine Electrochemical Biosensor Based on Zinc Oxide-Cerium Oxide Nanohybrid Modified Platinum Electrode.

Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) enzyme has been predominantly used for the detection of pesticides and metal ions. But, these sensors respond to pesticides as well as metal ions at certain concentration, which results in poor selectivity. Hence in this work, the amount of thiocholine produced during AChE inhibition has been estimated to detect the residual activity of AChE enzyme in-turn to enhance the efficiency of the biosensor. In this context, Pt/ZnO-CeO2/AChE/Chitosan based biosensor has been developed for sensitive voltammetric quantification of thiocholine in AChE. The sensor exhibited enhanced electron transfer rate, good conductivity and biocompatibility. Both the intrinsic and extrinsic parameters were simultaneously optimized using second order polynomial regression to get the best conditions for ATCh determination. Under optimized experimental conditions, the redox peak current was linear over the concentration range of 0.1-1.5 mM with detection and quantification limit of 0.05 and 0.15 µM respectively and the sensitivity of 1.47 µA mM-1.