Qasem A. Drmosh

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are increasingly being investigated for cancer management due to their physicochemical properties, low toxicity, and biocompatibility. This study used an eco-friendly technique (laser synthesis) to fabricate AuNP and Au/CNT nanocomposites. AuNPs, Au/CNTs, and CNTs were tested as potential cancer nanotherapeutics on colorectal carcinoma cells (HCT-116) and cervical cancer cells (HeLa) using a 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. In addition, the non-cancer embryonic kidney cells HEK-293 were taken as a control in the study. The cell viability assay demonstrated a significant reduction in cancer cell population post 48 h treatments of AuNPs, and Au/CNTs. The average cell viabilities of AuNPs, Au/CNTs, and CNTs for HCT-116 cells were 50.62%, 65.88%, 93.55%, and for HeLa cells, the cell viabilities were 50.88%, 66.51%, 91.73%. The cell viabilities for HEK-293 were 50.44%, 65.80%, 93.20%. Both AuNPs and Au/CNTs showed higher cell toxicity and cell death compared with CNT nanomaterials. The treatment of AuNPs and Au/CNTs showed strong inhibitory action on HCT-116 and HeLa cells. However, the treatment of CNTs did not significantly decrease HCT-116 and HeLa cells, and there was only a minor decrease. The treatment of AuNPs, and Au/CNTs, on normal HEK-293 cells also showed a significant decrease in cell viability, but the treatment of CNTs did not produce a significant decrease in the HEK-293 cells. This study shows that a simplified synthesis technique like laser synthesis for the preparation of high-purity nanomaterials has good efficacy for possible future cancer therapy with minimal toxicity.

Human exhaled breath has been utilized to identify biomarkers for diseases such as diabetes and cancer. The existence of these illnesses is indicated by a rise in the level of acetone in the breath. The development of sensing devices capable of identifying the onset of lung cancer or diabetes is critical for the successful monitoring and treatment of these diseases. The goal of this research is to prepare a novel breath acetone sensor made of Ag NPs/V2O5 thin film/Au NPs by combining DC/RF sputtering and post-annealing as synthesis methods. The produced material was characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-Vis, Raman, and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The results revealed that the sensitivity to 50 ppm acetone of the Ag NPs/V2O5 thin film/Au NPs sensor was 96%, which is nearly twice and four times greater than the sensitivity of Ag NPs/V2O5 and pristine V2O5, respectively. This increase in sensitivity can be attributed to the engineering of the depletion layer of V2O5 through the double activation of the V2O5 thin films with uniform distribution of Au and Ag NPs that have different work function values.