Abstract
Silicon nanocrystals (Si NCs) have received surging interest as a type of quantum dot (QD) due to the availability of silicon in nature, tunable fluorescence emission properties and excellent biocompatibility. More importantly, compared with many group II–VI and III–V based QDs, they have low toxicity. Here, thermoresponsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm)-functional Si NCs were firstly prepared for thermoresponsive detection of cancer cells. Si NCs were prepared under normal pressure with excellent water solubility. Then folic acid was bonded to the silicon nanocrystals through the reaction of amino and carboxyl groups for specific recognition of cancer cells. The folic-acid-modified silicon crystals (Si NCs-FA) could be modified by a one-pot copolymerization process into PNIPAAm nanospheres during the monomer polymerization process (i.e., Si NCs-FA-PNIPAAm) just by controlling the temperature below the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) and above the LCST. The results showed that the Si-FA-PNIAAm nanospheres exhibited not only reversible temperature-responsive on-off fluorescence properties, but also can be used as temperature indicators in cancer cells.
Highlights
Silicon nanocrystals (Si NCs) are emerging as a fascinating type of quantum dots for their unique properties, such as favorable biocompatibility, low toxicity, tunable fluorescence emission properties and good chemical stability [1,2]
The pure Si NCs-FA-PNIPAM was obtained after three repetitions of centrifugation at 12,000 rpm for 20 min when the solution was cooled to room temperature
These results show that the synthesized Si NCs were rich in peaksFigure were 1.atTEM
Summary
Silicon nanocrystals (Si NCs) are emerging as a fascinating type of quantum dots for their unique properties, such as favorable biocompatibility, low toxicity, tunable fluorescence emission properties and good chemical stability [1,2]. They have shown promising potential in a number of fields, including fluorescent sensing [3], biological imaging [4], dynamic therapy [5], optoelectronic devices [6]. The LCST, the intramolecular hydrogen bond in PNIPAAm chains reversibly become hydrophobic (shrunken state) To our knowledge, this is the first time that thermoresponsive PNIPAAm-functional. NCs-FA-PNIPAAm can be used in temperature sensing of cancer cells
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