Biology and Medicine

Abstract

Reliable Tools for Quantifying the Morphogical Properties at the Nanoscale

Carlos R Arroyo, Alexis Debut, Andrea V. Vaca, Carina Stael, Katherine Guzman, Brajesh Kumar and Luis Cumbal

We have developed a fast, reliable and robust code to analyze size distributions and morphological properties of nanostructures. A segmentation algorithm, based on watershed transformation, has been implemented and tested. We have used consistent definitions to quantify the sphericity, roundness and roughness, which critically modify the physicochemical properties at the nanoscale. Finally, our approach has been applied to some example systems. We demonstrate that our code can be applied to guide the synthesis of nanoparticles, to distinguish dead from living bacteria and also to predict the reactivity of nanoparticles used for environmental remediation.