Project's Outline

BioNanoTiN attempts to bring the implementation of refractory nitride nanoparticles one step closer to the biomedical applications and reach the level of in vivo tests via adding fundamental scientific knowledge to the field and correlating the nanoparticles’ morphology and composition to their plasmonic properties and biomedical potential. The BioNanoTiN objective is to fabricate functional refractory and stable plasmonic nanoparticles with high absorption in the near-IR biological window for biomedical applications.

Plasmonics have been established as one of the most dynamic and fast developing technologies nowadays. One of the major drawbacks in the path from lab to market is the reliance of most plasmonic systems to the traditional plasmonic metals Au and Ag, which cannot endure high temperatures and/or the high electric fields of concentrated light present in most realistic applications. This obstacle was proposed to be overcome by the use of refractory nitrides such as TiN, which have the ability to extent their plasmonic behavior into the near-IR range via doping or by varying the stoichiometry. Resonant plasmonic nanoparticles in the near-IR can be used for the efficient collection of electromagnetic energy and heating of a confined volume in the vicinity of particle by the use of a laser at the same range. Nanoparticles delivered to a tumor region can be heated via a NIR laser. So, the innovativeness of the BioNanoTiN, solving the intriguing questions as outlined is to fabricate and make possible the use of such nanoparticles with high efficiency in near-IR for biomedical applications aiming the cancer treatment with Optical Hyperthermia. The challenge for BioNanoTiN is to fabricate doped TiN colloidal nanoparticles with a controlled manner which can be surpassed by systematic studies using different combinations of laser process parameters.

Development of new plasmonic colloidal nanoparticles with plasmonic activity in the biological window (650-1100 nm) ultra-small sizes (<50 nm) and having chemical and biological inertness and stability and thermal durability	Usage of PVD and laser synthetic methods beyond state-of-the-art, resulting in novel nanostructures	Assessment of the biological activity, in terms of cytotoxicity and thrombogenicity, of plasmonic colloidal NPs that is missing in the scientific community