Synthesis and Characterization of PEG-Stabilized Gold Nanoparticles for Sensitive Detection of Water Pollutants and Volatile Organic Compounds in Biomedical Applications

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-976-6_4How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Gold Nanoparticles; PEG Stabilization; Water Pollutant Detection; VOC Sensing; Nanomaterial Characterization

Abstract

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) possess exceptional optical and chemical attributes, rendering them highly suitable for environmental surveillance and biomedical diagnostics. When stabilized with polyethylene glycol (PEG), these nanoparticles achieve enhanced colloidal stability and biocompatibility, facilitating their use in detecting emerging contaminants in water and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in exhaled breath. This integration of nanotechnology addresses the demand for efficient, non-invasive sensing platforms in water quality assessment and early disease identification, leveraging recent advancements in nanomaterial functionalization for real-time monitoring. Water sources are increasingly tainted by novel pollutants, including heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, and industrial chemicals, which pose severe threats to ecosystems and human health. Conventional detection techniques are often laborious, costly, and lack portability. Concurrently, respiratory ailments like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer necessitate non-invasive diagnostic tools, where VOC biomarkers offer potential but require sensitive, selective sensors to enable timely intervention without invasive procedures. PEG-capped AuNPs were synthesized via chemical reduction in an alkaline medium (pH 11), employing chloroauric acid (HAuCl₄) as the precursor and PEG-6000 at concentrations of 6–24 wt% as the stabilizer. Characterization encompassed Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) to verify surface functionalization and Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) for assessing particle size distribution and stability. The nanoparticles were subsequently applied to tap water samples, with pollutant detection evaluated through UV-Vis absorbance spectroscopy to measure interactions and sensitivity variations based on PEG concentration. FTIR analysis confirmed robust PEG-AuNP interactions, evidenced by characteristic peaks at 1645 cm⁻¹, 2870 cm⁻¹, 1350 cm⁻¹, and 1100 cm⁻¹, indicating successful stabilization. DLS revealed hydrodynamic diameters of 9.9 nm at 12 wt% PEG and 15.5 nm at 24 wt% PEG, with higher concentrations yielding superior dispersion and reduced aggregation.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Deborah Sabhan
AU  - V. Manonmani
AU  - P. S. Rajakumar
AU  - G. Gunasekaran
AU  - Sai Shanmuga Raja
AU  - K. Amuthanantham
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/29
TI  - Synthesis and Characterization of PEG-Stabilized Gold Nanoparticles for Sensitive Detection of Water Pollutants and Volatile Organic Compounds in Biomedical Applications
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Intelligent Information Systems Design and Indian Knowledge System Applications (ICISDIKSA 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 45
EP  - 66
SN  - 1951-6851
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-976-6_4
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-976-6_4
ID  - Sabhan2025
ER  -