Novel multifunctional nanospheres of ZnFeO@Ag: synthesis, properties and application for multi-modality tumor imaging.

New multifunctional nanospheres have been designed and synthesized through a green and facile strategy, which could be readily used in multi-modality tumor imaging through near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) imaging, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) imaging. Such nanospheres are made of porous superparamagnetic ZnFeO nanosphere cores covered by a thin layer shell of Ag clusters. While the shell of Ag clusters provides efficient NIRF imaging, the ZnFeO nanosphere cores allow external magnetic manipulation and readily facilitates their utilization for MRI and CT imaging.