Synthesis of biocompatible and highly fluorescent N-doped silicon quantum dots from wheat straw and ionic liquids for heavy metal detection and cell imaging.

Autor: Chen J; College of Biology and the Environment, Nanjing Forestry University, 159 Longpan Road, Nanjing 210037, PR China. Electronic address: chenjq@njfu.edu.cn., Yu Y; College of Biology and the Environment, Nanjing Forestry University, 159 Longpan Road, Nanjing 210037, PR China., Zhu B; Nanjing Stomatological Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing 210008, PR China., Han J; College of Biology and the Environment, Nanjing Forestry University, 159 Longpan Road, Nanjing 210037, PR China., Liu C; Nanjing Stomatological Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing 210008, PR China., Liu C; Institute of Chemical Industry of Forestry Products, Chinese Academy of Forestry, 16 Suojin Wucun, Nanjing 210042, PR China., Miao L; Nanjing Stomatological Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing 210008, PR China. Electronic address: miaoleiying80@163.com., Fakudze S; College of Biology and the Environment, Nanjing Forestry University, 159 Longpan Road, Nanjing 210037, PR China.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: The Science of the total environment [Sci Total Environ] 2021 Apr 15; Vol. 765, pp. 142754. Date of Electronic Publication: 2020 Oct 05.
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.142754
Abstrakt: Silane-based precursors for the synthesis of water-dispersible silicon quantum dots (SiQDs) present harmful effects on both researchers and the environment, due to their high toxicity. Though waste wheat straw is an abundant source of natural silicon, its application towards the synthesis of biocompatible SiQDs for metal detection has not yet been explored. In this study, N-doped SiQDs demonstrating uniform spherical morphologies, excellent water dispersity and strong fluorescence emission with a quantum yield of 28.9% were facilely synthesized by using wheat straw (WS) as silicon source and allyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (AMIMCl) as nitrogen source. The wheat straw based SiQDs (WS-SiQDs) showed linear fluorescence quenching ((F 0 -F)/F) with Cr(VI) and Fe(III) concentration in the range of 0-6 × 10 -4  M. Following immobilization on hydrophilic silica hydrogels, WS-SiQDs@silica hydrogels demonstrated enhanced fluorescence emission which can selectively detect Cr(VI) and Fe (III) to the limits of 142 and 175 nM, respectively. Moreover, cell imaging results reflected that WS-SiQDs can penetrate the membranes of dental pulp stem cells and react with the nucleuses of the stem cells. The stem cells maintained high viability under the conditions of 24 h incubation and SiQD concentration below 50 mg·L -1 , thus indicating low cytotoxicity of WS-SiQDs. The as-prepared SiQDs demonstrated notable structural and fluorescent properties, therefore representing promising biocompatible fluorescent nanomaterials for metal detection and cell imaging.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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