Taylor Dispersion of Polydisperse Nanoclusters and Nanoparticles: Modeling, Simulation, and Analysis

The dimensions of ultrasmall inorganic nanoparticles (US-NPs) is in the heart of the design of diagnostic and therapeutic efficacy; yet its accurate measurement is challenging for most experimental techniques. We show here how to design and analyze Taylor dispersion experiments to characterize the two most sought-after parameters describing size distributions: the number-averaged mean size and polydispersity index. To demonstrate the power of the method, we simulated and analyzed taylograms corresponding to gold US-NPs distributed normally. By using simulation and including experimental noise, we had the advantage that the true values describing size distribution were known exactly, and thus, we were able test the absolute accuracy of our analysis and its robustness against noise. Theory and computational experiments were found in very good agreement, providing a significant step in the analysis of ultrasmall inorganic nanoparticles and Taylor dispersion experiments.