Furthermore, the usage of GNP for diagnosis and even destruction

Furthermore, the usage of GNP for diagnosis and even destruction of microorganisms [6] or AuNP for biological applications [7–9] should be mentioned. Although GNPs are believed to be biologically inert, they can be engineered to possess

chemical and biological functionality. GNP exhibits a plasmon resonance (PR) at wavelengths from 510 to 580 nm [10] leading to enhanced absorption and scattering in this part of the optical spectrum. The PR is affected by the size and shape of the GNP, the type of MK-2206 cell line the supporting substrate (mainly its refractive index) and/or the surrounding material of the gold nanoparticles. The distance between the nanoparticles is also relevant, especially if it is small enough to enable electromagnetic coupling [11]. GNPs are usually prepared by precipitation from aqueous solutions [12, 13] on various materials, e.g., on etched Pritelivir in vitro glass surfaces [13, 14]. Thermal annealing of thin gold films produced by evaporation or sputtering [15] can also lead to a gold aggregation into GNP [16]. The formation of GNP from continuous gold layers is driven by the minimization of the surface energy and is denoted as

solid state dewetting [17]. However, all the described methods suffer from the poor adhesion of GNP to the substrate surface [18]. It is known that the biocompatibility of a substrate is affected, besides of several other factors, by their electrical conductivity, chemical structure, surface morphology, roughness, and wettability (polarity) [19]. In this work, we studied the surface morphology, sheet electrical resistance, contact angle, ultraviolet–visible (UV–vis) spectra, adhesion, and proliferation of living muscle cells

on gold structure sputtered on glass surface. Methods Materials and modification The gold layers were sputtered on 1.8 × 1.8 cm2 microscopic glass, supplied by Glassbel Ltd., Prague, Czech Republic. The surface roughness of glass, Doramapimod cell line measured over the area of 1×1 μm2 and calculated as an average value from five different measuring positions, was R a = Obatoclax Mesylate (GX15-070) 0.34 ± 0.03 nm [16]. The gold sputtering was accomplished on Balzers SCD 050 device from gold target (supplied by Goodfellow Ltd., Huntingdon, England). The deposition conditions were DC Ar plasma, gas purity of 99.995%, sputtering time of 10 to 400 s, current of 10 to 40 mA (discharge power 3 to 15 W), total Ar pressure about 5 Pa, and the electrode distance of 50 mm. The power density of Ar plasma in our case was 0.13 W·cm−2, and the average deposition rate was 0.15 nm s−1. The glass substrate was cleaned with methanol (p.a.) and dried in a stream of N2. The prepared samples were stored at laboratory conditions. Measurement techniques The mean thickness of gold films was measured by gravimetry using Mettler Toledo UMX2 microbalance (Columbus, OH, USA). The thickness was calculated from the sample weights before and after sputtering using gold bulk density.

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