Responsible development of nanotechnology calls for improved understanding of the effects of engineered nanomaterials on contaminant fate in the environment, as well as the interactions between nanomaterials and biological receptors. Here, we reveal the critical roles of crystallinity and exposed facets of metal-based nanomaterials in determining their reactivity towards organic contaminants and biomolecules. First, we show that crystallinity and exposed facets of metal oxide nanocrystals (e.g., nTiO2 and nFe2O3) can significantly affect the efficiency of the nanomaterials in catalyzing environmentally relevant acid- and base-catalyzed hydrolysis reactions, by controlling both adsorption affinities and concentrations of surface reactive moieties of nanocrystals. Second, we demonstrate that the composition of the protein corona on the surface of crystalline nanomaterials is facet-dependent. Specifically, nano-CdSe that contains higher content of the nonpolar facet {100} preferentially adsorbs thiol-rich proteins and induce significant conformational changes of these proteins. This result has important implications for assessing cytotoxicity and improving in vivo application of crystalline nanomaterials, as many thiol-rich proteins possess essential physiological functions and likely modulate cellular uptake and response of nanomaterials via specific protein-receptor pathways.

Crystallinity and exposed facets significantly affect affinity and reactivity of nanocrystals towards organic contaminants and biomolecules

256th National Meeting (2018)

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