Magnetism and Afterglow United: Synthesis of Novel Double Core-Shell Eu2+ -Doped Bifunctional Nanoparticles.

Abstract

Afterglow–magnetic nanoparticles (NPs) offer enormous potential for bioimaging applications, as they can be manipulated by a magnetic field, as well as emitting light after irradiation with an excitation source, thus distinguishing themselves from fluorescent living cells. In this work, a novel double core–shell strategy is presented, uniting co‐precipitation with combustion synthesis routes to combine an Fe3O4 magnetic core (≈15 nm) with an afterglow SrAl2O4:Eu2+,Dy3+ outer coat (≈10 nm), and applying a SiO2 protective middle layer (≈16 nm) to reduce the luminescence quenching caused by the Fe core ions. The resulting Fe3O4@SiO2@SrAl2O4:Eu2+,Dy3+ NPs emit green light attributed to the 4f65d1→4f7(8S7/2) transition of Eu2+ under UV radiation and for a few seconds afterwards. This bifunctional nanocomposite can potentially be applied for the detection and separation of cells or diagnostically relevant molecules.