Characterizations of AuNPs possessing a changing morphology (a-d) and AuNPs of three initial given morphologies with and without their human plasma coronae (e, f). a) TEM imaging revealed the AuNPs evolving from spiky AuNPs (AuNP1) to mid-spiky AuNPs (AuNP2) and spherical AuNPs (AuNP3) over 24 h. b) Primary size distributions of the AuNPs. c) UV-Vis absorption spectra for the three types of AuNPs. d) Zeta potentials of the three types of AuNPs in 10 mM HEPES buffer. TEM imaging confirmed the AuNPs assuming the morphologies comparable to e) AuNP1, AuNP2, AuNP3 and their respective protein coronae f) AuNP1 corona, AuNP2 corona, and AuNP3 corona (All scale bars: 20 nm).