Glasses with biocompatible Au/Ag NPs of governed composition

Abstract

Abstract Silver-gold alloy nanoparticles were grown using heat treatment of soda-lime glass slides with depercolated gold film subjected to silver-to-sodium ion exchange. Varying the regime of the heat treatment allows one to control the proportion of silver in the nanoparticles and adjust the spectral position of their local surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) in the spectral range between the resonances of gold and silver nanoparticles. The position of LSPR in gold nanoparticles can be shifted by 15% via their dilution by silver in 50 wt % concentration. This shift is accompanied by only a 3% decrease in HeLa cell viability on the slides with alloy nanoparticles on the surface and by a slight decrease in the cell functionality/adhesion (FA) that show the biocompatibility of these nanoparticles. On the contrary, a notable decrease in the viability and ∼100% drop of FA were registered for the slides with purely silver nanoparticles.