Silver nanoparticle-human hemoglobin interface: time evolution of the corona formation and interaction phenomenon

In this paper, we have used spectroscopic and electron microscopic analysis to monitor the time evolution of the silver nanoparticles (Ag NP)–human hemoglobin (Hb) corona formation and to characterize the interaction of the Ag NPs with Hb. The time constants for surface plasmon resonance binding and reorganization are found to be 9.51 and 118.48 min, respectively. The drop of surface charge and the increase of the hydrodynamic diameter indicated the corona of Hb on the Ag NP surface. The auto correlation function is found to broaden with the increasing time of the corona formation. Surface zeta potential revealed that positively charged Hb interact electrostatically with negatively charged Ag NP surfaces. The change in α helix and β sheet depends on the corona formation time. The visualization of the Hb corona from HRTEM showed large number of Hb domains aggregate containing essentially Ag NPs and without Ag NPs. Emission study showed the tertiary deformation, energy transfer, nature of interaction and quenching under three different temperatures. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40580-017-0122-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.