Fig. 4

Multifunctional particles/composites. TEM images show the production of particle composites by incorporating metals or oxides during the fabrication (sublimation/deposition) process. a An average 50.3 ± 4.2 nm particle composite was obtained by incorporating 12 nm gold particles in the composite, scale bars: 100 nm; b the incorporation of a number of 6 and 20 nm silver particles resulted in a 189.0 ± 15.3 nm particle composite, scale bars: 200 nm; and c a number of approximately 18 and 15 nm Fe₃O₄ particles were incorporated and resulted in a 385.7 ± 20.6 nm particle composite, scale bars: 500 nm. Dotted lines were drawn to indicate the contour of the polychloro-para-xylylene polymer. The CLSM images show the multifunctional poly-para-xylylene copolymer that was used for the incorporation of the Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles, and the reactivity of the installed NHS-ester and ester-alkyne groups was confirmed using d Alexa Fluor^® 555 azide in the red channel (scale bars: 10 μm) and e FITC-labeled BSA in the green channel (scale bars: 10 μm). An overlaid image of the red and green channels in f indicated the multifunctional presentation and paralleled immobilization of the two fluorescent molecules on the same particle composites (scale bars: 10 μm)