Europium (III)-doped mesoporous silica nanoparticles (SiO2-Eu NPs) prepared via the soaking method

Abstract

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (NPs) exhibiting magnetic, fluorescent, or magneto-fluorescent properties have attracted enormous attention because of the rapid development of theranostic nanoprobes. In this study, we report the simple yet efficient soaking method for the development of fluorescent mesoporous silica NPs within the size range of ~71–105 nm. Nitrogen adsorption-desorption experiments revealed that prepared SiO2-Eu NPs exhibit a large surface area of ~649 m2 g−1 that is suitable for potential drug delivery purposes. Photoluminescence study suggested that SiO2-Eu NPs emit a typical red emission with a maximum of ~615 nm and a quantum yield of ~7.94%. It is suggested that the proposed method can be extended to the fabrication of other metal-doped silica NPs.

Keywords

• Silica SiO2
• Mesoporous structure
• Nanoparticles
• Eu(III)-dopant
• Fluorescence