Optical Monitoring of the Biodegradation of Porous and Solid Silicon Nanoparticles.

Silicon nanoparticles (SiNP) are currently of great interest, especially in biomedicine, because of their unique physicochemical properties combined with biodegradability. SiNPs can be obtained in various ways and can have either a non-porous solid (sol-) or porous (por-) structure. In this work, we carry out detailed optical monitoring of sol- and por-SiNP biodegradation using Raman and photoluminescence (PL) micro-spectroscopy.

Radiofrequency Hyperthermia of Cancer Cells Enhanced by Silicic Acid Ions Released During the Biodegradation of Porous Silicon Nanowires.

The radiofrequency (RF) mild hyperthermia effect sensitized by biodegradable nanoparticles is a promising approach for therapy and diagnostics of numerous human diseases including cancer. Herein, we report the significant enhancement of local destruction of cancer cells induced by RF hyperthermia in the presence of degraded low-toxic porous silicon (PSi) nanowires (NWs). Proper selection of RF irradiation time (10 min), intensity, concentration of PSi NWs, and incubation time (24 h) decreased cell viability to 10%, which can be potentially used for cancer treatment.

Plasmon induced modification of silicon nanocrystals photoluminescence in presence of gold nanostripes.

We report on the results of theoretical and experimental studies of photoluminescense of silicon nanocrystals in the proximity to plasmonic modes of different types. In the studied samples, the type of plasmonic mode is determined by the filling ratio of a one-dimensional array of gold stripes which covers the thin film with silicon nanocrystals on a quartz substrate. We analyze the extinction, photoluminesce spectra and decay kinetics of silicon nanocrystals and show that the incident and emitted light is coupled to the corresponding plasmonic mode.

Tetranuclear Heterometallic {Zn2Eu2} Complexes With 1-Naphthoate Anions: Synthesis, Structure and Photoluminescence Properties.

A series of new tetranuclear heterometallic Zn(II) -Eu(III) complexes have been synthesized, that is, (bpy)2 Zn2Eu2 (naph)10 (1), (bpy)2 Zn2Eu2 (naph)8 (NO3)2 (2), and (phen)2 Zn2Eu2 (naph)8 (NO3)2 (3), and other ones, where naph(-) is the 1-naphthoate anion, bpy=2,2'-bipyridyl, and phen=1,10-phenanthroline. The solid-phase complexes consist of large supramolecular ensembles due to stacking interactions between the aromatic ligands. Photoluminescence (PL) measurements were carried out to study PL spectra, lifetimes and quantum yields (QY) of the synthesized complexes at different temperatures.