Group IV Nanoparticles: Synthesis, Properties, and Biological Applications

Abstract

In this review, the emerging roles of group IV nanoparticles including silicon, diamond, silicon carbide, and germanium are summarized and discussed from the perspective of biologists, engineers, and medical practitioners. The synthesis, properties, and biological applications of these new nanomaterials have attracted great interest in the past few years. They have gradually evolved into promising biomaterials due to their innate biocompatibility; toxic ions are not released when they are used in vitro or in vivo, and their wide fluorescence spectral regions span the near-infrared, visible, and near-ultraviolet ranges. Additionally, they generally have good resistance against photobleaching and have lifetimes on the order of nanoseconds to microseconds, which are suitable for bioimaging. Some of the materials possess unique mechanical, chemical, or physical properties, such as ultrachemical and thermal stability, high hardness, high photostability, and no blinking. Recent data have revealed the superiority of these nanoparticles in biological imaging and drug delivery.

Production of yellow-emitting carbon quantum dots from fullerene carbon soot

“…These values are higher than the value for sample IV. This is also consistent with the previous reports in which the CQDs with shorter-wavelength emissions or smaller sizes show higher Φ values [51,52].…”

Periodic mesoporous organosilicas for advanced applications

“…Compared with organic chromophores, photoluminescent inorganic nanocrystals have the advantage of high resistance to photobleaching and tunable size-dependent absorption and emission spectra. 58 Recently, Ozin and co-workers 59 synthesized photoluminescent nanocrystalline silicon PMOs by capping hydrideterminated nanocrystalline SiO 2 with triethoxysilylethylene oligomers through hydrosilylation and then coassembled them with TEOS under acidic conditions. Scheme 4 Illustration of the preparation and drug delivery of spherical poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanoparticles containing hydrophobic molecules covered by redox-responsive amorphous silica using a self-assembly approach with tetraethyl orthosilicate and disulfide-bridged silsesquioxane precursors (adapted from Botella and co-workers, 25 Copyright r 2013 American Chemical Society).…”

Tailoring the interplay between electromagnetic fields and nanomaterials toward applications in life sciences: a review

“…105,106 Carbon nanomaterials, such as nanotubes, graphene, nanodots, and nanodiamonds, can also be used for bioimaging owing to their optical response. 107,108 However, several aspects, such as cytotoxicity concerns, emission wavelength, or low extinction, which depend on the NP models, currently limit their use for bioimaging purposes. As an alternative to QDs, UCNPs represent a relatively new and exciting type of imaging agent.…”