• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.181-187
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• 2005

In this study, a microchip system fabricated with MEMS technology was developed to detect bioelectrical signals. The developed microchip using the conductivity of gold nanoparticles could detect the biopotential with a high sensitivity. For designing the microchip, simulations were performed to understand the effects of the size and number of nanoparticles, and the sensing width between electrodes on the detection of biosignals. Then, a series of experiment was performed to validate the simulation results and understand the feasibility of the proposed microchip design. Both simulation and experimental results showed that as the sensing width between electrodes increased the conductivity decreased. Also, the conductivity increased as the density of gold nanoparticles increased. In addition, it was found that the conductivity that changes with the nanoparticles density could be approximated by a cumulative normal distribution function. The developed microchip system could effectively apply when a biosignals should be measured with a high sensitivity.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.441-446
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• 2014

In this study, we synthesize silica-core gold-satellite nanoparticles (SGNPs) for the surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) based sensing applications. They consist of gold satellite nanoparticles (AuNPs) fixed on the silica core nanoparticles, which sizes of AuNPs can be tunned by varying the amount of reactants (growth solution and reducing agent). Their surface plasmon resonance (SPR) properties were characterized by using UV-vis spectroscopy, showing that the growth of AuNPs on silica cores leads to the light absorption in the longer wavelength region. Furthermore, the size increase of AuNPs exhibited the dramatic change in SERS activity due to the formation of hot spots. The optimized SGNPs showing enhancement factor ${\sim}3.8{\times}10^6$ exhibited a detection limit of rhodamine 6G (R6G) as low as $10^{-8}M$. These findings suggest the importance of size control of SGNPs and their SPR properties to develop highly efficient SERS sensors.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.235-243
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• 2008

A compact soft x-ray microscope operated in the 'water window' wavelength region ($2.3{\sim}4.4nm$) was used for observing cells with nano-scale spatial resolution. To obtain cellular imaging captured with colloidal gold nanoparticles using a compact soft x-ray microscope. The colloidal gold nanoparticles showed higher contrast and lower transmission more than 7 times than that of cellular protein on the soft x-ray wavelength region. The structure and thickness of the cell membrane of the Coscinodiscus oculoides (diatome) and red blood cells were seen clearly. The gold nanoparticles within the HT1080 and MDA-MB 231 cells were seen clearly on the soft x-ray microscopy. The gold nanoparticles were aggregated within vesicles by endocytosis.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.28 no.12
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• pp.2200-2202
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• 2007

The local field distribution around gold nanosphere-gold plane junction has been studied using the finitedifference time-domain (FDTD) electrodynamics calculation procedure. We find that both the in-plane and out-of-plane polarized excitation produce enhanced field strong enough to explain the observed SERS activities of the junctions. Comparison with a simple dipole-image dipole model shows that the enhanced field primarily originates from the multipole-image multipole interaction, which indicates that the detailed fine-structures of the nanoparticles also play a significant role in the SERS activities as well.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.25 no.9
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• pp.1392-1396
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• 2004

The micellization of dodecylpyridinum chloride (DPC) assembled on aqueous gold nanoparticles has been studied as a function of concentration using Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS). At the low concentration, the strong SERS band of the benzene ring moiety was observed at 1025 $cm^{-1}$, and assigned to “trigonal ring breathing”. According to high concentration of DPC, a new strong band was also appeared at 1012 $cm^{-1}$, which was assigned to “totally symmetry ring breathing”. The difference of two spectra seems to ascribe to the geometry of polar head group, i.e., pyridinium cation. These geometry exist flat-down at low concentration, whereas standing-up or tilted geometry at high concentration. The critical micelle concentration (CMC) was first obtained from the ratio of intensities of the two bands related to the benzene ring moiety by vibrational spectroscopy, and was about 28 mM. After the CMC, the benzene ring moiety in the micelle state was more restricted than in monomer state because there is no more change of intensities at 1012 $cm^{-1}$. In addition, the size of gold-assembled micelle was estimated using light scattering and it was about 328.3 nm.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.8
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• pp.2243-2244
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• 2013

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.10
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• pp.1668-1674
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• 2016

Red ginseng, a steamed and sun-dried ginseng, is a popular health-promoting food in Korea and other Asian countries. We introduced nanofertilizer technology using gold nanoparticles in an effort to develop red ginseng with an elevated level of ginsenosides, the main active compounds of ginseng. Shoots of 6-year-old ginseng plants were fertilized three times with colloidal gold nanoparticle sprays. Red ginseng extract was prepared from the main roots. The concentrations of gold and ginsenosides were measured following gold nanoparticle treatment. To evaluate the anti-inflammatory effects, mouse peritoneal macrophages of male BALB/c mouse were stimulated with lipopolysaccharide plus interferon-γ in the presence of extracts from red ginseng with or without gold nanoparticle treatment. The content of ginsenosides, such as Rg1, Re, Rf, and Rb1, increased in ginseng treated with gold nanofertilizer whereas the steaming process increased only the levels of Rd and Rg3. The levels of nitric oxide, inducible nitric oxide synthase, and interleukin-6, but not tumor necrosis factor-α, were more suppressed in macrophages treated with extract from gold nanoparticle-treated red ginseng. Our results show that the use of a colloidal gold nanoparticle fertilizer improved the synthesis of ginsenosides in ginseng and enhanced the anti-inflammatory effects of red ginseng. Further research is required to elucidate the causal factors for the gold-induced change in ginsenoside synthesis and to determine the in vivo effect of gold nanoparticle-treated ginseng.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.327-333
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• 2018

Background: Bioactive compounds in plant extracts are able to reduce metal ions to nanoparticles through the process of green synthesis. Panax ginseng is an oriental medicinal herb and an adaptogen which has been historically used to cure various diseases. In addition, the P. ginseng leaves-mediated gold nanoparticles are the value-added novel materials. Its potential as a cosmetic ingredient is still unexplored. The aim of this study was to evaluate the antioxidant, moisture retention and whitening properties of gold nanoparticles (PgAuNPs) in cosmetic applications. Methods: Cell-free experiments were performed to evaluate PgAuNP's antioxidant and moisture retention properties and inhibition activity on mushroom tyrosinase. Furthermore, in vitro cell cytotoxicity was evaluated using normal human dermal fibroblast and murine B16BL6 melanoma cells (B16) after treatment with increasing concentrations of PgAuNPs for 24 h, 48 h, and 72 h. Finally, in vitro cell assays on B16 cells were performed to evaluate the whitening effect of PgAuNPs through reduction of cellular melanin content and tyrosinase activity. Results: In vitro DPPH radical scavenging assay results revealed that PgAuNPs exhibited antioxidant activity in a dose-dependent manner. PgAuNPs exhibited moisture retention capacity and effectively inhibited mushroom tyrosinase. In addition, 3-(4,5-dimethyl-thiazol-2yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide results revealed that PgAuNPs were not toxic to human dermal fibroblast and B16 cells; in addition, they significantly reduced melanin content, tyrosinase activity, and mRNA expression of melanogenesis-associated transcription factor and tyrosinase in B16 cells. Conclusion: Our study is the first report to provide evidence supporting that P. ginseng leaves-capped gold nanoparticles could be used as multifunctional ingredients in cosmetics.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.1737-1742
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• 2014

In this research, we further developed the one-step seed mediated method to synthesize gold nanoparticles (GNPs) and control their resulting shapes to obtain hexagonal, triangular, rod-shaped, and spherical gold nanostructures. Our method reveals that the reaction kinetics of formation of GNPs with different shapes can be controlled by the rate of addition of ascorbic acid, because this is the critical factor that dictates the energy barrier that needs to be overcome. This in turn affects the growth mechanism process, which involves the adsorption of growth species to gold nanoseeds. There were also observable trends in the dimensions of the GNPs according to different rates of addition of ascorbic acid. We performed further analyses to investigate and confirm the characteristics of the synthesized GNPs.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.554-554
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• 2012

Controlling the size distribution of gold nanoparticles (NPs) is of great importance due to the fact that their properties are strongly dependent upon the size distribution as well as the size itself. In the citrate reduction method for gold NP synthesis, the citrate works as (1) a reducing agent, (2) a surfactant, and also (3) a weak base: it raises the pH of the whole reaction mixture. Here, we have extensively studied the all three roles of the citrate, by adding other reagents separately (NaBH4, CTAB, and NaOH) for the independent control of the three roles of the citrate. Among the roles of the citrate, that as a weak base was found to be the most critical parameter affecting the size distribution of gold NPs and the size distribution became much more improved with the increase of the solution pH, while adding a supplementary surfactant or reducing agent resulted in the formation of less homogeneous NPs.