Singh Vikram, Mandal Tuhin, Mishra Shiv Rag, Singh Anupama, Khare Puja
Environment Emission and CRM Division, CSIR-Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research Dhanbad, Dhanbad, Jharkhand, 828108, India.
Coal to Hydrogen Energy for Sustainable Solutions, CSIR-Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research Dhanbad, Dhanbad, Jharkhand, 828108, India.
Sci Rep. 2024 Feb 6;14(1):3069. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-53122-z.
Scaling up the synthesis of fluorescent silica nanoparticles to meet the current demand in diverse applications involves technological limitations. The present study relates to the hydrothermal synthesis of water-soluble, crystalline, blue-emitting amine-functionalized silica nanoparticles from coal fly ash sustainably and economically. This study used tertiary amine (trimethylamine) to prepare amine-functionalized fluorescent silica nanoparticles, enhancing fluorescence quantum yield and nitrogen content for nanofertilizer application. The TEM and FESEM studies show that the silica nanoparticles have a spherical morphology with an average diameter of 4.0 nm. The x-ray photoelectron and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy studies reveal the presence of the amine group at the surface of silica nanoparticles. The silica nanoparticles exhibit blue fluorescence with an emission maximum of 454 nm at 370 nm excitation and show excitation-dependent emission properties in the aqueous medium. With the perfect spectral overlap between silica nanoparticle emission (donor) and chlorophyll absorption (acceptor), fluorescent silica nanoparticles enhance plant photosynthesis rate by resonance energy transfer. This process accelerates the photosynthesis rate to improve the individual plant's quality and growth. These findings suggested that the fly ash-derived functionalized silica nanoparticles could be employed as nanofertilizers and novel delivery agents.
扩大荧光二氧化硅纳米颗粒的合成规模以满足当前在各种应用中的需求存在技术限制。本研究涉及从粉煤灰中可持续且经济地水热合成水溶性、结晶性、发射蓝光的胺官能化二氧化硅纳米颗粒。本研究使用叔胺（三甲胺）制备胺官能化荧光二氧化硅纳米颗粒，提高荧光量子产率和氮含量以用于纳米肥料应用。透射电子显微镜（TEM）和场发射扫描电子显微镜（FESEM）研究表明，二氧化硅纳米颗粒具有球形形态，平均直径为4.0纳米。X射线光电子能谱和傅里叶变换红外光谱研究揭示了二氧化硅纳米颗粒表面存在胺基。二氧化硅纳米颗粒在370纳米激发下呈现发射最大值为454纳米的蓝色荧光，并在水性介质中表现出激发依赖的发射特性。由于二氧化硅纳米颗粒发射（供体）与叶绿素吸收（受体）之间存在完美的光谱重叠，荧光二氧化硅纳米颗粒通过共振能量转移提高植物光合作用速率。这一过程加速光合作用速率以改善单株植物的品质和生长。这些发现表明，粉煤灰衍生的官能化二氧化硅纳米颗粒可用作纳米肥料和新型递送剂。
