TY - JOUR
T1 - Hollow mesoporous silica nanoparticles with tunable shell thickness and pore size distribution for application as broad-ranging pH nanosensor
AU - Tsou, Chieh Jui
AU - Hung, Yann
AU - Mou, Chung Yuan
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Dr. Kun-Che Kao for assistance in the experiments. This research was funded by the National Nanotechnology Project of the National Science Council (NSC 100-2120-M-002-001) of Taiwan.
PY - 2014/5/15
Y1 - 2014/5/15
N2 - Ratiometric fluorescence pH sensor is widely used in measuring intracellular pH but the pH sensing range is commonly limited in the range of pKa ± 1 of the pH sensitive dye. In previous work, we demonstrated that the pKa value of the pH sensitive dye and the pH sensing range of a nanosensor can be extended by varying the curvature of the silica surface which the dye is affixed on. Based on this idea, a powerful pH sensor with a pH sensing range more than 5 units is possible. In the present paper, we synthesized hollow mesoporous silica nanoparticles (HMSNs) from an oil-in-water microemulsion system. Both the shell thickness and pore size distribution could be tuned simultaneously by altering the organic solvents used to dissolve hydrophobic components. Furthermore, small and uniform nanoparticles (less than 100 nm) were obtained through a kinetic control that is beneficial for intracellular studies. Finally, we took advantage of the broad pore size distribution of as-synthesized HMSNs, and loaded a pH sensitive dye and a reference dye onto the surface to fabricate pH sensors with a very large pH measuring range of 3.2-9.0 in a ratiometric fluorescence method.
AB - Ratiometric fluorescence pH sensor is widely used in measuring intracellular pH but the pH sensing range is commonly limited in the range of pKa ± 1 of the pH sensitive dye. In previous work, we demonstrated that the pKa value of the pH sensitive dye and the pH sensing range of a nanosensor can be extended by varying the curvature of the silica surface which the dye is affixed on. Based on this idea, a powerful pH sensor with a pH sensing range more than 5 units is possible. In the present paper, we synthesized hollow mesoporous silica nanoparticles (HMSNs) from an oil-in-water microemulsion system. Both the shell thickness and pore size distribution could be tuned simultaneously by altering the organic solvents used to dissolve hydrophobic components. Furthermore, small and uniform nanoparticles (less than 100 nm) were obtained through a kinetic control that is beneficial for intracellular studies. Finally, we took advantage of the broad pore size distribution of as-synthesized HMSNs, and loaded a pH sensitive dye and a reference dye onto the surface to fabricate pH sensors with a very large pH measuring range of 3.2-9.0 in a ratiometric fluorescence method.
KW - Hollow mesoporous silica nanoparticle
KW - pH sensing
KW - Ratiometric fluorescence
KW - Solvent effects
KW - Surface curvature
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U2 - 10.1016/j.micromeso.2014.02.011
DO - 10.1016/j.micromeso.2014.02.011
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84896816111
SN - 1387-1811
VL - 190
SP - 181
EP - 188
JO - Zeolites
JF - Zeolites
ER -