Figure 8. The correlation of MOx toxicity to bandgap energy structure.
The conduction band (CB, blue bar)) and valence band (VB, red bar)) energy of metal oxide nanoparticles are experimentally determined and compared to biological redox potential (zone highlighted in yellow). CB overlap with the biological redox potential could facilitate electron transfer to the redox couples that collectively determine the cellular redox potential. The disruption of the cellular redox equilibrium results in oxidative stress as defined by the multi-parametric HTS assay.