Homogenous, far-reaching tuning and highly emissive QD―silica core―shell nanocomposite synthesized via a delay photoactive procedure; their applications in two-photon imaging of human mesenchymal stem cells

• Published in: Journal of materials chemistry 2009-01, Vol.19 (44), p.8314-8319
• Main Authors: LAI, Chih-Wei, WANG, Yu-Hsiu, CHEN, Yu-Chun, HSIEH, Cheng-Chih, PRAJAKTA UTTAM, Borade, HSIAO, Jong-Kai, HSU, Cheng-Chih, CHOU, Pi-Tai
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Electronics; Exact sciences and technology; Materials science; Molecular electronics, nanoelectronics; Nanocrystalline materials; Nanoscale materials and structures: fabrication and characterization; Physics; Quantum dots; Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices
• ISSN: 0959-9428; 1364-5501
• DOI: 10.1039/b906575j

In this article, we present the exploration of a facile synthetic tactic incorporating delay-photo-oxidation to recover the loss in emission frequently encountered after encapsulating quantum dots (QDs) inside a silica shell. This facile synthesis procedure reproducibly increases emissive intensity of QDs (core)-SiO sub(2) (shell) (60 nm) nanomaterials by >5 fold (QY from 3% to >15%). The resulting QDs (core)-SiO sub(2) proved to be a single quantum dot in single SiO sub(2), homogeneous and highly monodispered; their emissions have been successfully fine-tuned from visible to the near infrared region. We then demonstrate their power in biological imaging by labeling human mesenchymal stem cells under two-photon confocal microscopy. The results of low cytotoxicity, efficient labeling, and specific location nearby the nucleus characters of these nanoparticles should spark an intensive relevant research within a living system.