A Specific Surface-coating Peptide for Rare Earth Nanomaterials

摘要

Surface properties of of nanoparticles play a predominant role in determining the biological effects, both desirable and adverse, elicited by engineered nanomaterials and can be tuned by surface modifications with a variety of covalent as well as non-covalent modifications. Using phage display, we have discovered an 11 -amino acid peptide that binds to rare earth nanomaterials with high affinity and forms a stable coating layer on the surface of the nanocrystals. The peptide efficiently reduces sedimentation of the nanocrystals, decreases the interaction of nanocrystals with cells and surfaces, abrogates autophagy induction and toxicity, and acts as a linker in enabling biomedical applications for rare earth nanomaterials and formation of rare earth-based composite nanomaterials.