  A nanoparticle (NP) immersed in biological media rapidly forms a corona of
adsorbed proteins, which later controls the eventual fate of the particle and
the route through which adverse outcomes may occur. The composition and
timescale for the formation of this corona are both highly dependent on both
the NP and its environment. The deposition of proteins on the surface of the NP
is related to processes of random sequential adsorption and, based on this
model, we develop a rate-equation treatment for the formation of a corona
represented by hard spheres on spherical and cylindrical NPs. We find that the
geometry of the NP significantly alters the composition of the corona through a
process independent of the rate constants assumed for adsorption and desorption
of proteins, with the radius and shape of the NP both influencing the corona.
Moreover, we demonstrate that in the condition of strong binding such that the
adsorption is effectively irreversible the corona content reflects the protein
mobility and concentration in solution rather than their binding affinity.
