Abstract:
Anisotropic popcorn-shaped gold nanoparticles (GNPCs) were synthesized through a sustainable route. Proteins were used as ligands, and among several proteins, bovine serum albumin (BSA) produced high-quality GNPCs. The method is scalable to produce liters of NPs (with almost mM elemental Au concentration) in a single batch. Structural changes of proteins due to GNPC formation were studied in detail using circular dichroism and fluorescence spectroscopy. The secondary structure of proteins was lost in the growth step, which facilitates the formation of GNPCs. Among other similar sized gold nanoparticles, GNPC@BSA was found to have high colloidal stability and biocompatibility
