TY - JOUR
T1 - Synthesis of PEG-grafted boron doped Si nanocrystals
AU - Greenhagen, Jesse R.
AU - Andaraarachchi, Himashi P.
AU - Li, Zhaohan
AU - Kortshagen, Uwe R.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Author(s).
PY - 2019/12/7
Y1 - 2019/12/7
N2 - Silicon nanocrystals are intriguing materials for biomedical imaging applications because of their unique optical properties and biological compatibility. We report a new surface functionalization route to synthesize biological buffer soluble and colloidally stable silicon nanocrystals, which is enabled by surface boron doping. Harnessing the distinctive Lewis acidic boron surface sites, postsynthetic modifications of plasma synthesized boron doped nanocrystals were carried out with polyethylene glycol (PEG-OH) ligands in dimethyl sulfoxide under photochemical conditions. The influence of PEG concentration, PEG molecular weight, and boron doping percentage on the nanocrystal solubility in a biological buffer has been investigated. The boron doping facilitates the surface functionalization via two probable pathways, by providing excellent initial dispersiblity in polar solvents and providing available acidic boron surface sites for bonding. These boron doped silicon nanocrystals have nearly identical absorption features as intrinsic silicon nanocrystals, indicating that they are promising candidates for biological imaging applications.
AB - Silicon nanocrystals are intriguing materials for biomedical imaging applications because of their unique optical properties and biological compatibility. We report a new surface functionalization route to synthesize biological buffer soluble and colloidally stable silicon nanocrystals, which is enabled by surface boron doping. Harnessing the distinctive Lewis acidic boron surface sites, postsynthetic modifications of plasma synthesized boron doped nanocrystals were carried out with polyethylene glycol (PEG-OH) ligands in dimethyl sulfoxide under photochemical conditions. The influence of PEG concentration, PEG molecular weight, and boron doping percentage on the nanocrystal solubility in a biological buffer has been investigated. The boron doping facilitates the surface functionalization via two probable pathways, by providing excellent initial dispersiblity in polar solvents and providing available acidic boron surface sites for bonding. These boron doped silicon nanocrystals have nearly identical absorption features as intrinsic silicon nanocrystals, indicating that they are promising candidates for biological imaging applications.
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U2 - 10.1063/1.5128608
DO - 10.1063/1.5128608
M3 - Article
C2 - 31822090
AN - SCOPUS:85076045789
SN - 0021-9606
VL - 151
JO - Journal of Chemical Physics
JF - Journal of Chemical Physics
IS - 21
M1 - 211103
ER -