The design and fabrication of materials that simultaneously contain more than one type of functional components, so-called multifunctional materials, is an active research area with the potential to impact a wide range of technological applications. In particular, co-assembling two types of nanocrystals with distinct properties into larger colloidal particles, especially at the mesoscopic scale, offers the possibility of producing new classes of nanoparticles (i.e., supernanoparticles, SPs) with a set of combined properties, all the while maintaining the colloidal nature of their building blocks. Here, we report a simple and effective method for assembling CdSe-CdS QDs with Fe3O4 MNPs into colloidal SPs with a �core-shell� (CS) superstructure. Additional thermal annealing drives the crystallization of the �core� MNPs into a highly ordered supercrystal with an ideal fcc superlattice. The CS-SPs can be easily coated with a thin silica layer, providing surface functionality and colloidal stability as well as biocompatibility. Importantly, these silica-coated CS-SPs for the first time simultaneously satisfy all the design criteria needed for various applications: uniform and tunable sizes, high magnetic content loading, maximized fluorophore loading on the surface, substantial colloidal stability, and versatile surface functionality. These features allow the utilization of these magneto-fluorescent SPs for in vitro intracellular manipulation and in vivo MR/MP dual-modal imaging.

Magneto-fluorescent core-shell supernanoparticles

247th National Meeting (2014)

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