ZnO nanocomposites modified by hydrophobic and hydrophilic silanes with dramatically enhanced tunable fluorescence and aqueous ultrastability toward biological imaging applications.

ABSTRACT: Multicolor ZnO quantum dots (QDs) were synthesized and further modified with hydrophobic hexadecyltrimethoxysilane (HDS) and then hydrophilic aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APS) bilayers, resulting in amine-functionalized ZnO@HDS@APS nanocomposites with tunable fluorescence from blue to green yellow. Systematic investigations verify that the resulting ZnO@HDS@APS could display extremely high stability in aqueous media and unexpectedly, dramatically-enhanced fluorescence intensities, which are about 10-fold higher than those of bare ZnO QDs. The feasibility of the as-prepared ZnO nanocomposites for blood, cell, and tissue imaging was preliminarily demonstrated, promising the wide bio-applications for cell or tissue imaging, proteome analysis, drug delivery, and molecular labeling.

SUBMITTER: Li S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4329562 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature