Introducing Cost-effective Approaches for Fabricating and Characterizing Multifunctional Magnetic Nanowires for Advancing Nanobiotechnology

Abstract

Nanobiotechnology often requires a significant amount of nanoparticles with controlled morphology and properties that cannot be achieved using the current state of the arts. In this dissertation, we introduce a scalable approach for the mass production of elongated nanoparticles by harnessing the current distribution during template-assisted electrodeposition technique. This approach not only substantially reduces the synthesis cost and time (by a factor of 4X) but also significantly enhances monodispersity and fabrication yield (by a factor of 80X to 100X). Interestingly, this scalable approach can unlimitedly be scaled up for several magnitudes of orders higher fabrication yields. Practically, high-yielding fabrication methods usually do not allow perfectly identical nanoparticles, leading to variation in properties and functionalities. In this context, we advised a novel, fast, and universal characterization technique, named the projection method, that can potentially be used for characterizing hysteretic behaviors (dependency of a property of a system on its history) of magnetic nanoparticles. The projection method not only speeds up extracting magnetic signatures by a factor of 20X to 100X but also removes the trade-off between accuracy and characterization speed, thus beneficial for both research development and industrial quality control levels. Lastly, extensive characterizations and surface chemistry modifications of numerous magnetic nanowires have been conducted to advance Nanobiotechnology by tackling challenges in quantitative biolabeling and nanobarcoding, cell manipulation, selective detection and stimulation of cancer cells in multimodal therapeutic platforms, cancer hyperthermia, and cryopreservation applications. Specifically, this dissertation addresses long-standing obstacles, including magnetic nanowires agglomeration, surface biofunctionalization, colloidal stability in biological media, and selective detection of biological entities, to boost the progression of Nanobiotechnology. The proven success of magnetic nanowires in the aforementioned applications opens new directions to transform the future of Nanobiotechnology, where my scalable synthesis and universal characterization techniques are the cornerstones.