Work

Biocompatible Luminescent Silicon Quantum Dots for Imaging of Cancer Cells

Year: 2008

Type: article

Abstract: Luminescent silicon quantum dots (Si QDs) have great potential for use in biological imaging and diagnostic applications. To exploit this potential, they must remain luminescent and stably dispersed in water and biological fluids over a wide range of pH and salt concentration. There have been many challenges in creating such stable water-dispersible Si QDs, including instability of photoluminescence due their fast oxidation in aqueous environments and the difficulty of attaching hydrophilic molecules to Si QD surfaces. In this paper, we report the preparation of highly stable aqueous suspensions of Si QDs using phospholipid micelles, in which the optical properties of Si nanocrystals are retained. These luminescent micelle-encapsulated Si QDs were used as luminescent labels for pancreatic cancer cells. This paves the way for silicon quantum dots to be a valuable optical probe in biomedical diagnostics.

Source: ACS Nano

DOI: 10.1021/nn700319z

Authors: Folarin Erogbogbo, Ken-Tye Yong, Indrajit Roy, GaiXia Xu, Paras N. Prasad, Mark T. Swihart

Institution: University at Buffalo, State University of New York

Language: English

Topic: Silicon Nanostructures and Photoluminescence

Subfield: Materials Chemistry

Field: Materials Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funder: National Cancer Institute