Abstract
Water-dispersible silicon nanoparticles (Si-NPs) are desirable for applications in biological techniques. A simplified method to synthesize such particles is reported here. The resulting Si-NPs are water-dispersible and luminescent. Under the excitation of UV light, the Si-NPs emit strong red light with a peak maximum at 606 nm and a quantum yield of 6%. They are highly stable, and remain so over several weeks. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy shows a visible Si–CH2 scissoring vibration mode. Furthermore, the surface chemical bondings were confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). In the Si2p and C1s core levels, Si–C components are observed. The diameters of the synthesized Si-NPS as measured by atomic force microscope (AFM) are approximately 5 nm. Furthermore, the nanoparticles can be taken up by cultured cells. Fluorescence images of Si-NPs within MCF-7 human breast cancer cells show they are distributed throughout the cell tissue.
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Acknowledgments
QW is grateful to the International Scholarship Funding panel of the University of East Anglia for awarding an international scholarship. YC is grateful to Royal Society for awarding a Research Grant 2007/R2 and EPSRC for financial support under the project EP/G01664X/1. The research leading to these results has also received funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no 226716. Nanotec Electronica is thanked for offering free WSxM© software.
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Wang, Q., Ni, H., Pietzsch, A. et al. Synthesis of water-dispersible photoluminescent silicon nanoparticles and their use in biological fluorescent imaging. J Nanopart Res 13, 405–413 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-010-0047-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-010-0047-7