TY - JOUR
T1 - In situ growth of fluorescent silicon nanocrystals in a monolithic microcapsule as a photostable, versatile platform
AU - Zhu, Guixian
AU - Huang, Yu
AU - Bhave, Gauri
AU - Wang, Yuzhen
AU - Hu, Zhongbo
AU - Liu, Xuewu
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank Dr Jianhua Gu of the HMRI Microscopy-SEM/AFM core on SEM imaging and Mr Carlos Favela for his help on Confocal imaging. The authors acknowledge financial support from the following sources: NIH U54CA151668-01, NIH 1R21CA190024-01, DOD W81XWH-12-1-0414, DOD W81XWH-10-2-0125, National Natural Science Foundation of China 81571791, and Houston Methodist Research Institute.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 The Royal Society of Chemistry.
PY - 2016/9/14
Y1 - 2016/9/14
N2 - A facile, one-step method was developed for the in situ formation of fluorescent silicon nanocrystals (SiNC) in a microspherical encapsulating matrix. The obtained SiNC encapsulated polymeric microcapsules (SiPM) possess uniform size (0.1-2.0 μm), strong fluorescence, and nanoporous structure. A unique two stage, time dependent reaction was developed, as the growth of SiNC was slower than the formation of polymeric microcapsules. The resulting SiPM with increasing reaction time exhibited two levels of stability, and correspondingly, the release of SiNC in aqueous media showed different behavior. With reaction time <1 h, the obtained low-density SiPM (LD-SiPM) as matrix microcapsules, would release encapsulated SiNC on demand. With >1 h reaction time, resulting high-density SiPM (HD-SiPM) became stable SiNC reservoirs. SiPM exhibit stable photoluminescence. The porous structure and fluorescence quenching effects make SiPM suitable for bioimaging, drug loading and sorption of heavy metals (Hg2+ as shown) as an intrinsic indicator. SiPM were able to reduce metal ions, forming SiPM/metal oxide and SiPM/metal hybrids, and their applications in bio-sensing and catalysis were also demonstrated.
AB - A facile, one-step method was developed for the in situ formation of fluorescent silicon nanocrystals (SiNC) in a microspherical encapsulating matrix. The obtained SiNC encapsulated polymeric microcapsules (SiPM) possess uniform size (0.1-2.0 μm), strong fluorescence, and nanoporous structure. A unique two stage, time dependent reaction was developed, as the growth of SiNC was slower than the formation of polymeric microcapsules. The resulting SiPM with increasing reaction time exhibited two levels of stability, and correspondingly, the release of SiNC in aqueous media showed different behavior. With reaction time <1 h, the obtained low-density SiPM (LD-SiPM) as matrix microcapsules, would release encapsulated SiNC on demand. With >1 h reaction time, resulting high-density SiPM (HD-SiPM) became stable SiNC reservoirs. SiPM exhibit stable photoluminescence. The porous structure and fluorescence quenching effects make SiPM suitable for bioimaging, drug loading and sorption of heavy metals (Hg2+ as shown) as an intrinsic indicator. SiPM were able to reduce metal ions, forming SiPM/metal oxide and SiPM/metal hybrids, and their applications in bio-sensing and catalysis were also demonstrated.
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U2 - 10.1039/c6nr03829h
DO - 10.1039/c6nr03829h
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84984617541
SN - 2040-3364
VL - 8
SP - 15645
EP - 15657
JO - Nanoscale
JF - Nanoscale
IS - 34
ER -