Baipaywad Phornsawat, Hong Seong Vin, Kim Jong Bae, Hwang Jangsun, Choi Jonghoon, Park Hansoo, Paik Taejong
School of Integrative Engineering, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, 06974, Republic of Korea.
Biomedical Engineering Institute, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand.
Nano Converg. 2022 Mar 7;9(1):12. doi: 10.1186/s40580-022-00303-z.
We present a single-step, room-temperature synthesis of fluorescent organosilica nanobeads (FOS NBs). The FOS NBs were synthesized under aqueous conditions using (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTES) as the silicon source in the presence of L-ascorbic acid (L-AA). In the APTES/L-AA/water ternary phase, the hydrolysis and condensation reaction of APTES occurred under acidic conditions to form spherical FOS NBs with an average diameter of 426.8 nm. FOS NBs exhibit excellent colloidal stability in aqueous media. The formation of FOS NBs was complete within a 10 min reaction time, which indicates potential for large-scale mass-production synthesis of luminescent colloidal NBs. The FOS NBs exhibited blue photoluminescence (PL) under UV excitation in the absence of an additional high temperature calcination process or with the incorporation of any fluorophores. This phenomenon is attributed to the presence of carbon-containing defects, which act as luminescent centers formed by the reaction between amino groups in the APTES and L-ascorbic acid reductant. Finally, the results of a cytotoxicity test and cellular uptake experiments revealed that the FOS NBs showed potential as optical contrast agents for bioimaging.
我们展示了一种一步法、室温合成荧光有机硅纳米珠（FOS NBs）的方法。在水相条件下，以（3-氨丙基）三乙氧基硅烷（APTES）作为硅源，在L-抗坏血酸（L-AA）存在的情况下合成了FOS NBs。在APTES/L-AA/水三元相中，APTES的水解和缩合反应在酸性条件下发生，形成平均直径为426.8 nm的球形FOS NBs。FOS NBs在水性介质中表现出优异的胶体稳定性。FOS NBs在10分钟的反应时间内形成完成，这表明发光胶体纳米珠具有大规模量产合成的潜力。在没有额外高温煅烧过程或未掺入任何荧光团的情况下，FOS NBs在紫外激发下表现出蓝色光致发光（PL）。这种现象归因于含碳缺陷的存在，这些缺陷作为发光中心，由APTES中的氨基与L-抗坏血酸还原剂之间的反应形成。最后，细胞毒性测试和细胞摄取实验的结果表明，FOS NBs作为生物成像的光学造影剂具有潜力。
