Silver nanoparticle in biosensor and bioimaging: Clinical perspectives

Recent developments in nanotechnology promoted the production of nanomaterials with various shapes and sizes by utilizing interdisciplinary researches of biology, chemistry, and material science toward the clinical perspectives. In particular, gold and silver (Ag) are noble metals that exhibit tunable and unique plasmonic properties for the downstream applications. Ag exhibits higher thermal and electrical conductivities, and more efficient in the electron transfer than gold with sharper extinction bands. In addition, modified Ag nanoparticle is more stable in water and air. With all these above features, Ag is an attractive tool in various fields, including diagnosis, drug delivery, environmental, electronics, and as antimicrobial agent. In particular, applications of Ag nanoparticle in the fields of biosensor and imaging are prominent in recent days. Enhancing the specific detection of clinical markers with Ag nanoparticle has been proved by several studies. This review discussed the constructive application of Ag nanoparticle in biosensor and bioimaging for the detection of small molecule to larger whole cell in the perspectives of diagnosing diseases.