Issue 36, 2022

Beyond the fluorescence labelling of novel nitrogen-doped silicon quantum dots: the reducing agent and stabilizer for preparing hybrid nanoparticles and antibacterial applications

Abstract

Silicon quantum dots (SiQDs) have fully demonstrated their applicability in light of their fluorescence. The extension of their applications to other fields, especially considering their excellent biocompatibility, would be more appealing. Herein, a kind of versatile nitrogen-doped silicon quantum dot (N-SiQD) was facilely synthesized via a one-pot hydrothermal method with 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane and tetraethylpentylamine as sources. The N-SiQDs were used as a probe for bacterial imaging owing to their good fluorescence properties, stability and biocompatibility. Besides, owing to N doping rendering the N-SiQDs stronger reducibility and Au affinity, the N-SiQDs displayed unique reduction capability, and were attempted as a reducing agent and stabilizer for the synthesis of the nanocomposite, i.e. N-SiQDs stabilized Au nanoparticles (N-SiQDs–AuNPs), under mild conditions. The N-SiQDs–AuNPs showed superior catalytic performance to citric-AuNPs due to the synergistical catalytic effect. In addition, the N-SiQDs exhibited good antibacterial properties against Gram-positive (S. aureus) and Gram-negative bacteria (E. coli) without obvious negative influence on the cells, particularly avoiding the use of any other external stimulation. This study may open a new avenue to use SiQDs for the synthesis of nanocomposites and other biomedicine applications beyond as a fluorescent probe.

Graphical abstract: Beyond the fluorescence labelling of novel nitrogen-doped silicon quantum dots: the reducing agent and stabilizer for preparing hybrid nanoparticles and antibacterial applications

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
22 Jun 2022
Accepted
11 Aug 2022
First published
12 Aug 2022

J. Mater. Chem. B, 2022,10, 7003-7013

Beyond the fluorescence labelling of novel nitrogen-doped silicon quantum dots: the reducing agent and stabilizer for preparing hybrid nanoparticles and antibacterial applications

Y. Wang, M. Pan, Y. Song, Z. Li, L. Wang, M. Jiang, X. Yu and L. Xu, J. Mater. Chem. B, 2022, 10, 7003 DOI: 10.1039/D2TB01304E

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements