Classification and biological identity of complex nano shapes

Luca Boselli, Hender Lopez, Wei Zhang, Qi Cai, Valeria A. Giannone, Jingji Li, Alirio Moura, João M. de Araujo, Jennifer Cookman, Valentina Castagnola, Yan Yan, Kenneth A. Dawson

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Everywhere in our surroundings we increasingly come in contact with nanostructures that have distinctive complex shape features on a scale comparable to the particle itself. Such shape ensembles can be made by modern nano-synthetic methods and many industrial processes. With the ever growing universe of nanoscale shapes, names such as “nanoflowers” and “nanostars” no longer precisely describe or characterise the distinct nature of the particles. Here we capture and digitise particle shape information on the relevant size scale and create a condensed representation in which the essential shape features can be captured, recognized and correlated. We find the natural emergence of intrinsic shape groups as well-defined ensemble distributions and show how these may be analyzed and interpreted to reveal novel aspects of our nanoscale shape environment. We show how these ideas may be applied to the interaction between the nanoscale-shape and the living universe and provide a conceptual framework for the study of nanoscale shape biological recognition and identity.

Original languageEnglish
Article number35
JournalCommunications Materials
Volume1
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2020
Externally publishedYes

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Classification and biological identity of complex nano shapes'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this