Multifunctional rare-Earth vanadate nanoparticles: luminescent labels, oxidant sensors, and MRI contrast agents.

Collecting information on multiple pathophysiological parameters is essential for understanding complex pathologies, especially given the large interindividual variability. We report here multifunctional nanoparticles which are luminescent probes, oxidant sensors, and contrast agents in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Eu(3+) ions in an yttrium vanadate matrix have been demonstrated to emit strong, nonblinking, and stable luminescence.

A thermodynamic limit of the melting/freezing processes of water under strongly hydrophobic nanoscopic confinement.

We studied liquid water confined within nanopores which present a high level of hydrophobicity thanks to a new method of synthesis. We found that the liquid state persists down to temperatures much lower than in the bulk and in hydrophilic materials of comparable sizes, allowing us to define a thermodynamic limit for the melting/crystallization of water.