Basic chemistry

The course will be an introduction to the world of nanoparticles. Students will get acquainted with basic knowledge on nanoparticles with a special emphasis on metal-based ones. Their synthesis and applications will be discussed. Moreover, several techniques allowing their chemical and structural analysis will be presented. In the second part (laboratory part) of the course, students will synthesize nanoparticles of chosen noble metals, characterize them, and utilize them for chosen bioanalytical applications. This will allow to show the influence of their size on the properties.

Lecture: Introduction to nanochemistry and nanotechnology. Classification of nanoparticles. Synthesis methods. Techniques to evaluate their properties. Applications of nanoparticles in bioanalysis and therapies.

Laboratory: Synthesis of metal-based nanoparticles (using bottom-up approach). Evaluation of their basic properties. Application of synthesized nanoparticles in chosen (bio)analytical method or evaluation of their biological properties, eg, application as a modifier of electrochemical or optical transducer of biosensors, application as labels in bioassays, testing their potential for photothermal therapy, testing their potential for chemodynamic therapy, etc.

Case study - presentation (70%), quiz (30%)

TBC