Table 1. Hydrodynamic and DCS Sizes of Pristine Silica NPs and Silica Coronas after 1, 2, and 3 Centrifugal Washes (W1, W2, and W3)a.
| DLS
± SD(n = 3) |
NTA |
DCS
± SD(n = 4) |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| sample | Z-average | PdI | main peak | 2nd peak | main peak | 2nd peak |
| corona thickness | ||||||
| Silica NPs | 114.2 ± 1.2 | 0.03 ± 0.02 | 111.0 | 161.0 | 102.1 ± 0.7 | 118.9 ± 1.4 |
| 0 | ||||||
| Corona-W1 | 175.1 ± 0.9 | 0.14 ± 0.02 | 131.0 | 183.0 | 93.2 ± 0.5 | 111.4 ± 1.0 |
| 15.9 (14.6–17.3) | ||||||
| Corona-W2 | 174.3 ± 1.6 | 0.16 ± 0.01 | 127.0 | 171.0 | 93.4 ± 0.4 | 111.3 ± 1.2 |
| 15.4 (14.4–16.4) | ||||||
| Corona-W3 | 169.8 ± 2.0 | 0.15 ± 0.02 | 125.0 | 179.0 | 93.5 ± 1.0 | 111.0 ± 1.9 |
| 15.1 (12.7–17.8) | ||||||
a
DLS measurements (n = 3). SD: standard deviation. NTA measurements (n = 3), the peaks were reported after merging three technical replicates. DCS measurements (n = 4). The sizes of the main and second peaks are shown for NTA and DCS. All sizes were in nanometers.