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Designing photothermal transducing agents (PTAs) with enhanced photothermal conversion efficiency (PCE) holds essential importance for photothermal tumor eradication applications. Currently, it is an effective way to improve the photothermal efficiency by designing the energy level transition leading to the enhancement of UV absorption. To address the challenge, we develop novel Prussian blue@polyacrylic acid/copper sulfide Janus nanoparticles (PB@PAA/CuS JNPs) via selective coating of PAA nano-hemisphere on one of the surfaces of PB NPs followed by the further formation of CuS on the PAA template. The experiments show that the energy level transition occurs between Janus structure. Besides, it offers enhanced absorption over NIR-I and NIR-II dual windows. The muscle tissue penetration studies suggest that the PB@PAA/CuS JNPs have deeper tissue penetration in the 1064 nm laser irradiation group, indicating their potential for treating deep-tissue-seated tumors. In a word, the unique PB@PAA/CuS JNPs show an enhanced tumor inhibitory effect over the NIR-I and NIR-II dual windows, which will open up new opportunities for improving PTT efficiency by the rational nanostructural design of PTAs.

Potassium manganese hexacyanoferrate (KMnHCF) suffers from poor cycling stability in potassium-ion batteries due to the Jahn-Teller effect, and experiences destabilizing asymmetric expansions and contractions during cycling. Herein, hollow nanospheres consisting of ultrasmall KMnHCF nanocube subunits (KMnHCF-S) are developed by a facile strategy.

Nanotechnology-based drug-free therapeutic systems utilizing external stimuli can avoid the inherent side effects of drugs and become an attractive therapeutic strategy. However, the cellular stress responses (CSR) are activated encounter with external stimuli, which greatly weaken the efficacy of the drug-free antitumor. Thus, we proposed a CSR regulation strategy and synthesized the glucose oxidase (GOx)-modified Cu

The anisotropic Janus nanoparticles (JNPs) provide synergistic effects by concentrating multiple properties on a single carrier. Herein, we reported a novel and simple approach to fabricate acorn-like poly(acrylic acid)-mesoporous calcium phosphate/polydopamine (PAA-mCaP/PDA) JNPs, which were selectively functionalized with methoxy-poly(ethylene glycol)thiol (PEG-SH) on PDA domains to obtain superior stability, while the other mCaP sides served as a storage space and passage for the anti-cancer drug of doxorubicin (DOX). The unique acorn-like PAA-mCaP/PDA-PEG JNPs were utilized as novel theranostic agents for photoacoustic (PA) imaging-guided synergistic cancer chemo-phototherapy. More importantly, this synthetic strategy can be applied to synthesize various mesoporous Janus nanocarriers, paving the way toward designed synthesis of acorn-like JNPs in nanomedicine, biosensing and catalysis. Statement of significance The distinct acorn-like poly(acrylic acid)-mesoporous calcium phosphate/polydopamine Janus nanoparticles (PAA-mCaP/PDA JNPs) with a spherical-shaped PAA-mCaP core and PDA half-shell were fabricated for the first time. To achieve superior stability, the acorn-like PAA-mCaP/PDA JNPs were selectively functionalized with methoxy-poly(ethylene glycol)thiol (PEG-SH) on PDA domains to obtain acorn-like PAA-mCaP/PDA-PEG JNPs. The resultant acorn-like PAA-mCaP/PDA-PEG JNPs own an excellent biocompatibility, high drug-loading contents, good photothermal conversion efficiency, photoacoustic (PA) imaging capacity and pH/NIR dual-responsive properties, enabling the acorn-like JNPs to be applied for PA imaging-guided synergistic cancer chemo-phototherapy. More importantly, the synthetic approach could be extended to prepare acorn-like mesoporous inorganic substances/PDA JNPs for specific applications.

The solid-solid conversion of Li2S2 to Li2S is a crucial and rate-controlling step that provides one-half of the theoretical capacity of lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries. The catalysts in the Li-S batteries are often useless in the solid-solid conversion due to the poor contact interfaces between solid catalysts and insoluble solid Li2S2. Considering that ultrafine nanostructured materials have the properties of quantum size effects and unconventional reactivities, we design and synthesize for the pomegranate-like sulfur nanoclusters@nitrogen-doped carbon@nitrogen-doped carbon nanospheres (S@N-C@N-C NSs) with a seed-pulp-peel nanostructure. The ultrafine S@N-C subunits (diameter ≈5 nm) and effects of a spatial structure perfectly realize the rapid conversion of ultrafine Li2S2 to Li2S. The S@N-C@N-C seed-pulp-peel NS cathodes exhibit excellent sulfur utilization, superb rate performance (760 mAh g-1 at 10.0 C), and an ultralow capacity decay rate of about 0.016% per cycle over 1000 cycles at 4.0 C. The proposed strategy based on ultrafine nanostructured materials can also inform material engineering in related energy storage and conversion fields.

A nasal polyp is a chronic inflammation that still has a tendency to recur after medical and surgical treatments, and greatly decreases the quality of life. Since the efficacy of current therapeutic methods is limited, it is urgent to develop a novel strategy to realize multi-modal anti-inflammatory treatment. In this study, multifunctional Au–CeO2 JNPs capable of eliminating reactive oxygen species (ROS), loading anti-inflammatory drugs (Danshensu sodium salt), and being detected by X-ray computed tomography (CT) were developed for imaging guided synergistic anti-inflammatory treatment of nasal polyps. As expected, the Au–CeO2 JNPs showed excellent CT imaging performance, and the levels of ROS and pro-inflammatory cytokines decreased after the primary human nasal polyp epithelial cell (HNEC) treatment with Au–CeO2 JNPs, indicating the synergistic ROS elimination effect between Au and CeO2 domains. Furthermore, compared with individual CeO2 NPs and Au–CeO2 JNPs, the Danshensu sodium salt (DSS) loaded Au–CeO2 JNPs showed stronger anti-inflammatory performance due to the synergistic pharmacotherapy and enzymatic action. Therefore, this novel nanozyme–drug nanosystem provided a new concept and approach in the progress of anti-inflammation.

The physical confinement and chemical catalysis of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) are effective approaches to improve the performance of lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries. How to effectively combine physical confinement and chemical catalysis has become the focus of research. Herein, micro–mesoporous carbon (MMC) embedded with well-dispersed ultrafine CoS2 (uCoS2) nanocrystals as an efficient sulfur host is presented. As expected, the obtained S/uCoS2@MMC cathode can achieve a synergistic effect of physical confinement and chemical catalysis of LiPSs through micro–mesoporous structures and well-dispersed uCoS2 nanocrystals. Furthermore, the MMC with a high conductive specific surface area, uniform pore size and micro–mesoporous structure can realize homogeneous loading of sulfur and physical adsorption of LiPSs. Owing to these excellent qualities, the S/uCoS2@MMC cathode delivers outstanding initial capacities up to 1227 mA h g−1 at 0.1C. More significantly, a capacity of 606 mA h g−1 is maintained after 1000 cycles at 1C (a very low capacity decay rate of only 0.032% per cycle). It can be seen that the MMC embedded with well-dispersed uCoS2 nanocrystals as the sulfur host has great application prospects in Li–S batteries.

Although the bimetal sulfide is intensively pursued in catalytic systems, synthesis of ultrafine sized bimetal sulfide Janus subunits is still a great challenge. In this work, ultrafine NiS2/MoS2 Janus subunits organized on yolk–shell nanospheres (NSs) are synthesized by a novel and facile approach. The greatly reduced particle size of both two-dimensional MoS2 and one-dimensional NiS2 on the ultrafine NiS2/MoS2 Janus subunits endows the yolk–shell NSs with numerous intimate interfaces of bimetal sulfide hybrids greatly promoting the intimate electronic interaction and dissociation of water molecules. Benefiting from the ultrafine NiS2/MoS2 Janus subunits, abundant edge sites and the high density of interfaces, the as-prepared NiS2/MoS2 yolk–shell NSs exhibit high electrocatalytic activity with a low η10 value of 135 and 293 mV for the HER and OER, respectively. In addition, a low cell voltage (1.58 V) is achieved by using NiS2/MoS2 yolk–shell NSs as both anode and cathode. This study has significant indications in exploring the ultrafine nanoparticles for the water splitting reaction, fuel cells and organic synthesis.

Host materials that can physically confine and chemically adsorb/catalyze lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) are currently receiving intensive research interest for developing lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries. Herein, a novel host material made of micro–mesoporous carbon nanospheres (MMC NSs) with well-dispersed ultrafine NiS2-ZnS (uNiS2-ZnS) heterostructures is synthesized for the first time via a simple in situ sulfuration process. The uNiS2-ZnS/MMC materials achieve the synergistic effect of physical confinement and the efficient chemical adsorption/catalysis of LiPSs through a micro–mesoporous structure and well-dispersed uNiS2-ZnS heterostructures. In addition, compared with bulk heterostructured materials, the uNiS2-ZnS heterostructures greatly enhance the adsorption and catalytic ability toward LiPSs because the catalysis interface effect and naturally formed in-plane interfaces can be magnified by the ultrafine dispersed nanoparticles. As a result, the prepared uNiS2-ZnS/MMC-S cathodes exhibit outstanding rate capacity (675.5 mA h g−1 at 5.0C) and cyclic stability (710.5 mA h g−1 at 1.0C after 1000 cycles with a low capacity decay of 0.033% per cycle). This work provides a certain reference for the application of heterostructured materials in Li–S batteries.

The biodegradable nanoparticles hold tremendous potential in the field of nanomedicine because of the negligible toxicity concerns in healthy tissues/organs. We reported a simple route for the synthesis of pH-responsive biodegradable ZnO nanospheres (ZnO NSs) assembled from ultrasmall particles (sizes ranging from 4 to 8 nm, average 6 nm) with a suitable size. The nanoplatform could be responsively decomposed into small fragments under the weak acid environment to meet the requirement for pH-stimulus drug release and in favor of the biodegradation. The confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) studies showed that the ZnO NSs could be efficiently internalized by cancer cells, and the loaded doxorubicin (DOX) in the NSs could be successfully released under acidic intracellular environment. Notably, the cell viabilities of DOX-loaded NSs with different sizes towards HepG-2 and HeLa cells for different incubation time were investigated, which exhibited dose-dependent and time-dependent effects. Furthermore, in vivo experiments showed that the DOX-loaded NSs displayed a significant antitumor effect (79% average inhibition rate relative to the control group) without distinct side effects. All in all the designed NSs as drug delivery systems not only achieved the excellent cancer chemotherapy but also could be rapidly decomposed or metabolized to reduce their toxicity.

A built-up I-section with web stiffeners and complex edge stiffeners is expected to have better performance to resist against local and distortional buckling compared to conventional built-up I-sec...

The solid-solid conversion of Li

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common and deadly malignant tumors worldwide. With unsatisfactory effects of traditional systematic chemotherapy for HCC owing to its drug resistance, novel therapeutic strategies based on nanomaterials for HCC treatments are promising solutions. To solve the challenges of nanoparticles (NPs)-based drug delivery systems for potential clinical applications, we designed water soluble amphiphilic oleic acid-NaYF4:Yb,Er/polydopamine Au nanoflower Janus NPs (OA-UCNPs/PDA-AuF JNPs) with discrete multi compartment nanostructures as dual-drug delivery systems (DDDSs). This unique nanostructure meets the requirements for containing hydrophobic hydroxycamptothecin/hydrophilic doxorubicin in divided spaces and releasing each drug from non-interfering channels under pH/near-infrared (NIR) dual-stimuli. The amphiphilic DDDSs were utilized to eradicate the tumor burden on a high-fidelity HCC model of a patient-derived xenograft (PDX), and represented an efficient strategy for defeating HCC using multi-modal imaging-guided dual-drug chemo-photothermal therapy in the second NIR window. In addition, the potential mechanisms of action for the DDDSs were evaluated.

The Mott-Schottky heterojunction formed at the interface of ultrafine metallic Ni and semiconducting V

Host materials that can physically confine and chemically adsorb/catalyze lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) are currently receiving intensive research interest for developing lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries. Herein, a novel host material made of micro-mesoporous carbon nanospheres (MMC NSs) with well-dispersed ultrafine NiS

In this paper, orange emitting carbon dots (CDs) were synthesized by a hydrothermal process, and the CDs shown good behavior in detection for Hg2+, development of LFPs, cell imaging, test paper and films.

During the different clinical manifestations and periods in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the species and doses of drugs could be optimized to realize personalized therapy for an individual patient. Here, we firstly reported Yin Yang-like ultrasmall nanoparticles-stacked oleic acid–NaYF4:Yb,Er@hollow porous SiO2 nanoparticles (Yin Yang-like OA–UCNPs@HPS NPs) with a hydrophobic eccentric hollow structure and hydrophilic exterior surface possessing a wide pore size distribution via a novel method. The obtained NPs achieved the loading of multiple varisized hydrophobic/hydrophilic guests into the discrete rooms and the release of each one from the independent channels to reduce the undesirable adverse effects of different guests, which greatly favors the selection of drugs for an individual patient and enhances synergistic theranostics. The in vitro and in vivo (cell line-derived xenograft and patient-derived xenograft models) results demonstrated that the HCPT/DOX-loaded NPs could act as excellent theranostics agents for multimodal imaging-guided synergic dual-drug cancer therapy of HCC. Meanwhile, the potential mechanisms of action of the HCPT/DOX-loaded NPs after endocytosis by HCC cells were evaluated. The nanocomposite could further motivate the progress of new architectures of nanocarriers for varisized guest delivery and personalized treatment.

Multifunctional spherical aggregated gold nanoclusters encapsulated by polyacrylic acid/mesoporous silica shell nanoparticles (A-AuNC@PAA/mSiO2 NPs) with aggregation enhanced fluorescence (AEF) properties were fabricated by a facile and reproducible synthetic strategy. The as-prepared NPs were employed as novel theranostic agents for synergistic fluorescence/X-ray computed tomography imaging and chemo-therapy of liver cancer in vitro and in vivo.

In our work, we report a facile approach to fabricate well-dispersed polypyrrole@metal-organic framework (PPy@MOF) core-shell nanocomposites (NCs) with a polypyrrole (PPy) core and an MIL-100(Fe) shell. The adsorbed Fe(iii) ions on the as-fabricated PPy surface were utilized as reactive sites for further growth of the MIL-100(Fe) in the presence of trimesic acid (H3btc). The resulting NCs exhibited strong absorption in the near infrared (NIR) region and possessed an excellent photothermal efficiency of ∼40% resulting from the PPy core. The MOF structure based on Fe(iii) carboxylate materials held great ability for storage/delivery of the hydrophilic anti-cancer drug, doxorubicin (DOX). The released DOX continuously increased due to the damage of the shell at low pH values. When the DOX-loaded PPy@MIL-100(Fe) NCs were exposed to NIR irradiation, owing to the heat produced by the NCs, the local temperature increased, resulting in a faster release of DOX from the MIL-100(Fe) shell. Furthermore, PPy@MIL-100(Fe) NCs were successfully employed for dual-mode magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)/photoacoustic imaging (PAI) and synergistic chemo-photothermal therapy of cancer cells. Therefore, our work could encourage further study in the construction of a multifunctional platform using different MOF nanomaterials for cancer theranostics.

A simple, novel, and reproducible synthetic strategy was developed to fabricate multifunctional Fe

Chuan Tian,1,2,* Haifeng Ying,3,* Rongyuan Zhuang,4 Xiaowei Zhang,5 Hongmin Lu,6 Hui Wang,7 Shuowen Wang,8 Qi Li,1 Chungang Wang,9 Xun Cai1 1Department of Oncology, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200080, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Medical Oncology, Jinling Hospital, School of Medicine, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210002, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ruijin Hospital, Medical College, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai 200025, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Oncology, Zhongshan Hospital, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, People’s Republic of China; 5Department of Medical Oncology, Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, People’s Republic of China; 6Department of Oncology, Renji Hospital, Medical College, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai 200127, People’s Republic of China; 7Department of Oncology, Shanghai Tenth People’s Hospital, Shanghai Tongji University, Shanghai 200072, People’s Republic of China; 8Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200080, People’s Republic of China; 9Department of Radiotherapy, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200080, People’s Republic of China *These authors contributed equally to this work Purpose: The relationship between the pharmacokinetics of irinotecan and outcomes of advanced colorectal cancer is unclear, and few studies have examined individualized irinotecan-based chemotherapy depending on plasma 7-ethyl-10-hydroxy camptothecin (SN-38) levels and dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD) activity, particularly for the UGT1A1*6 or UGT1A1*28 heterozygous type. Methods: This study retrospectively explored the relationship among plasma SN-38 level 1.5 hours after critical enzyme for irinotecan (CPT-11) administration (CSN-38 1.5h), plasma SN-38 level 49 hours after CPT-11 administration (CSN-38 49h), DPD activity, and clinical outcomes for the UGT1A1*6 and UGT1A1*28 heterozygous types. Results: CSN-38 1.5h and CSN-38 49h of the UGT1A1*6 or UGT1A1*28 heterozygous type were close to those of UGT1A1*6 and UGT1A1*28 wild-types; some of those with relatively high CSN-38 1.5h levels obtained better median progression-free survival (mPFS), whereas others with higher CSN-38 49h concentrations showed a relatively high incidence of adverse reactions possibly because of the decreased activity of DPD. Conclusion: Increasing the dosage of CPT-11 according to CSN-38 1.5h may improve the efficacy in patients with lower CSN-38 1.5h levels. For cases with comparably low DPD activity, advisable primary and subsequent dose adjustment of 5-fluorouracil based on plasma 5-fluorouracil levels may be a practical strategy for reducing the occurrence of adverse reactions for personalized treatment of the UGT1A1*6 or UGT1A1*28 heterozygous type. Keywords: irinotecan, pharmacokinetics, enzyme activity, uridine diphosphate glucuronosyltransferase 1A1, colorectal cancer

Co-delivery of two drugs with diverse physicochemical properties and specific administration order for cancer theranostics are vitally important for drug resistance conquering and side effects reducing. Consequently, we explored a unique amphiphilic PCL-AuNC/Fe(OH)3-PAA Janus nanoparticle (JNP) to simultaneously preserve the hydrophilic drug (doxorubicin) and hydrophobic drug (docetaxel) in their distinct domains. Owing to their extraordinary heterostructure and independent pH and NIR sensitive properties, the optional sequential drug release by a single inorganic JNP was realized for the first time, and the results presented the synchronous release of two drugs had 5% better therapeutic effect. In addition, the excellent computed X-ray tomography/magnetic resonance (CT/MR) imaging capabilities from AuNC and Fe(OH)3 suggested our JNPs could effectively guide the cancer therapy. Furthermore, the mice treated with dual drug loaded PCL-AuNC/Fe(OH)3-PAA JNPs under near infrared (NIR) laser irradiation showed better tumor inhibition than solo drug, cocktail and dual drug treated groups, indicating the effectivity and significance of combined cancer therapy.

Designing mixed metal oxides with uniform nanostructures as a significant electrode material in energy storage devices is a vital concern for the whole world. But achieving this goal is plagued by many problems such as tedious procedures, hard morphology control and poor conductivities. The NiCo2O4/NiFe2O4 hollow nanospheres (NSs) are prepared for the first time through a novel one-pot approach. The introduced NiFe2O4 has amazingly improved the electrochemical performance of NiCo2O4 hollow NSs in both Li-ion batteries (LIBs) and supercapacitors (SCs). And the ratio of Fe to Ni plays an important role for the improvement of electrochemical performance. The NiCo2O4/NiFe2O4 hollow NSs exhibit superior capacity/capacitance values (3795 F g−1 at a current density of 1 A g−1) and fine cycling performances (11.0% specific capacitance decay after 6000 cycles) which can be attributed to the larger specific surface area of hollow NSs and the synergistic effect of two components. This provides a feasible preview of their practical applications.

In this article, we reported a dual emissive multicolorful fluorescent-nanoprobe which was composed of gold nanocluster (BSA-Au NCs) and carbon dots (CDs) with a certain proportion, i.e. Au NCs-CDs. The dual emissive Au NCs-CDs showed pink fluorescence under UV light, and the dual emission peaks at 625 nm and 444 nm were corresponded to the existence of Hg2+ and Cr6+ respectively. The fluorescence color transformed from pink to blue when in presence of Hg2+. The blue fluorescence emission of CDs selectively quenched by Cr6+, whereas the red fluorescence of BSA-Au NCs was stable against Cr6+, which can be treated as internal reference. The difference response of the two emissions to Hg2+ and Cr6+ resulted in a distinguished fluorescent color change, which can be noticed by the naked eyes clearly. When the Hg2+ and Cr6+ were exposed to the Au NCs-CDs simultaneously, the dual-emission of the Au NCs-CDs were all reduced and exhibited the complete quenching of the pink emission. The detection limits for Hg2+ and Cr6+ were 1.85 nM and 5.34 nM, respectively. Significantly, it was successfully applied to determine the existence of Hg2+ and Cr6+ in real samples, which offered the advantages of simplicity, environmentally friendly and cost saving efficiency.

Multifunctional nanoparticles (NPs) simultaneously having functions of multimodal therapy and imaging are highly needed in biomedical applications. A unique monstera flower-like gold nanorod/polydopamine bowl (GNR/PDA bowl) with spadix-bract nanostructure was fabricated by a novel and facile approach. The possible formation mechanism of the GNR/PDA bowl spadix-bract NPs was proposed by monitoring the synthetic process. The obtained monstera flower-like GNR/PDA bowl spadix-bract NPs were further selectively functionalized with 1-dodecanethiol (DT) on GNR domains (spadix) to achieve efficient hydrophobic drug delivery capability; meanwhile, the PDA bowl (bract) can load the hydrophilic anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX). The resultant monstera flower-like DT-GNR/PDA bowl spadix-bract NPs possess an excellent biocompatibility, high dual-drug-loading contents, excellent photothermal conversion efficiency, strong near-infrared (NIR) absorbance, effective attenuation of X-rays, and pH/NIR dual-responsive propert...

This paper presents experimental research and finite element analysis (FEA) on a new type of frame wall that has fiber cement pressure (FCP) panel as sheathing. Some new structural details for the connection and energy conservation are proposed. In order to evaluate the bending capacity of the FCP frame wall, eight specimens with the parameters of stud spacing, connection styles, window opening, and loading sides were tested under uniformly distributed loads. The measurements of each material property were taken before the bending tests. Failure modes, load-deformation curves, and the strain of some key points were all obtained. The results indicate that the designed parameters affected the ultimate bearing capacity and failure mode of the specimens. Moreover, a non-linear FE model was made and verified against the tests. Results of FEA agree well with the experiment in failure modes and load-deformation curves. Therefore, FEA was confirmed as reliable for the prediction of the loading process. Finally, extended parametric analysis of FCP frame wall was conducted.

Here, we reported on a route to the facile synthesis of bimetallic silver doped copper nanoparticles (Ag-Cu NPs) by AgNO 3 and CuSO 4 in the presence of sodium borohydride and sodium citrate. The present work described the preparation of the Ag-Cu NPs with sodium citrate and the use of them in colorimetric detection of mercury (II) ions. Ag-Cu NPs with an average diameter of 9.0 ± 0.8 nm were prepared via two step reduction at room temperature. The Ag-Cu NPs were thoroughly characterized by using UV–vis spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques. The morphology and constitution of the Ag-Cu NPs were characterized by TEM, and the valence state of Ag-Cu NPs was confirmed by the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic (XPS) result. The synthesized Ag-Cu NPs were yellow in color due to the intense surface plasmon absorption band centered at 406 nm. This high selective sensor allowed a direct quantitative assay of mercury ions (Hg 2+ ) with a detection limited of 0.51 nM. The synthesized Ag-Cu NPs also exhibited good catalytic activity in two model reactions, the reduction of the nitrophenols and potassium ferricyanide (III) by sodium borohydride.

We herein used a low cost and facile one-step method for synthesizing fluorescent carbon-doped silicon nanoparticles (Si NPs) under mild reaction conditions. The fluorescence spectra of Si NPs showed maximum excitation and emission wavelengths at 370 nm and 450 nm, respectively. The fluorescence of the obtained Si NPs can be selectively and efficiently quenched by the Hg2+ and Ag+. The fluorescent Si NPs showed high sensitivity toward Hg2+ and Ag+ with detection limits of 2.676 μM and 0.457 μM, respectively. Moreover, the sensing ability of Si NPs for Hg2+ and Ag+ were successfully carried out in real water samples, which offered the merits of high sensitivity and high selectivity. In addition, Si NPs were also successfully employed as a promising fluorescent label for the visualization of latent fingerprints. As far as we know, this is first time that silicon nanoparticles are used to visualize latent fingerprints. The fingerprints on different surfaces (silicon wafer, patterned coin, glass sheet, copper sheet and rough plastic board) developed with this Si NPs showed very good fluorescent images with the third level under ultraviolet excitation. The method using fluorescent Si NPs as fluorescent marks provides a variety of advantages including enhanced contrast, retaining stability and non-toxicity. In addition, Si NPs showed highly non-toxic for cellular media, the efficient bioimaging of cellular imaging was enabled after incubation of HepG2 cells in the presence of Si NPs.