Self-assembly of multi-hierarchically structured spongy mesoporous silica particles and mechanism of their formation

Ultrabright fluorescent particles via physical encapsulation of fluorescent dyes in mesoporous silica: a mini-review

Harnessing the power of mesoporous silica to encapsulate organic fluorescent dyes has led to the creation of an extraordinary class of nanocomposite photonic materials. These materials stand out for their ability to produce the brightest fluorescent particles known today, surpassing even the luminosity of quantum dots of similar spectrum and size. The synthesis of these materials offers precise control over the shape and size of the particles, ranging from the nano to the multi-micron scale. Just physical encapsulation of the dyes opens new possibilities for mixing different dyes within individual particles, paving the way for nearly limitless multiplexing capabilities. Moreover, this approach lays the groundwork for the development of highly sensitive sensors capable of detecting subtle changes in temperature and acidity at the nanoscale, among other parameters. This mini-review highlights the mechanism of synthesis, explains the nature of ultrabrightness, and describes the recent advancements and future prospects in the field of ultrabright fluorescent mesoporous silica particles, showcasing their potential for various applications.

Surface defective g-C3N4-xClx with unique spongy structure by polarization effect for enhanced photocatalytic removal of organic pollutants

Natural sponge is an ancient marine organism with a single lamellar structure, on which there are abundant porous channels to compose full-fledged spatial veins. Illumined by the natural spongy system, herein, the Cl doped surface defective graphite carbon nitride (g-C₃N_4-xCl_x) was constructed through microwave etching. In this process, microwave with HCl was employed to produce surface defects and peel bulk g-C₃N₄ to form natural spongy structured g-C₃N_4-xCl_x with three-dimensional networks. The spongy structure of the photocatalyst could provide abundant and unobstructed pathways for the transfer and separation of electron-hole pairs, and it was beneficial for photocatalytic reaction. The spongy defective g-C₃N_4-xCl_x achieved excellent degradation of diclofenac sodium (100%), bisphenol A (88.2%), phenol (85.7%) and methylene blue (97%) solution under simulated solar irradiation, respectively. The chlorine atoms were introduced into the g-C₃N₄ skeleton in microwave field with HCl, forming C-Cl bonds and surface polarization field, which could significantly accelerate the separation of photogenerated electrons and holes. As an efficient and universal approach, microwave etching can be generally used to create surface defects for most photocatalysts, which may have potential applications in environmental purification, energy conversion and photodynamic therapy.

Ultrabright Fluorescent Silica Nanoparticles for Multiplexed Detection

Fluorescent tagging is a popular method in biomedical research. Using multiple taggants of different but resolvable fluorescent spectra simultaneously (multiplexing), it is possible to obtain more comprehensive and faster information about various biochemical reactions and diseases, for example, in the method of flow cytometry. Here we report on a first demonstration of the synthesis of ultrabright fluorescent silica nanoporous nanoparticles (Star-dots), which have a large number of complex fluorescence spectra suitable for multiplexed applications. The spectra are obtained via simple physical mixing of different commercially available fluorescent dyes in a synthesizing bath. The resulting particles contain dye molecules encapsulated inside of cylindrical nanochannels of the silica matrix. The distance between the dye molecules is sufficiently small to attain Forster resonance energy transfer (FRET) coupling within a portion of the encapsulated dye molecules. As a result, one can have particles of multiple spectra that can be excited with just one wavelength. We show this for the mixing of five, three, and two dyes. Furthermore, the dyes can be mixed inside of particles in different proportions. This brings another dimension in the complexity of the obtained spectra and makes the number of different resolvable spectra practically unlimited. We demonstrate that the spectra obtained by different mixing of just two dyes inside of each particle can be easily distinguished by using a linear decomposition method. As a practical example, the errors of demultiplexing are measured when sets of a hundred particles are used for tagging.