Xinhong Qi,Xiangcun Li,Gaohong He,Yangzhi Zhu,Yurong Diao,Huilan Lu
Noble metal nanocrystals (Au, Pt or AuPt) with controlled compositions and nanostructures were embedded into hollow silica submicrospheres with highly ordered radial mesopores through a one-step sol–gel process. 2,4-Dihydroxybenzoic acid–formaldehyde (RF-COOH) resin submicrospheres were utilized simultaneously as a hard template to create hollow interiors inside the silica submicrospheres and as carriers to transport pregrown metal nanocrystals, including Au nanoparticle (NP), Pt NP, and AuPt nanoalloy, into the submicrospheres. Calcination removes the resin submicrospheres and causes metal nanocrystals embedded into the RF-COOH submicrospheres break into multiple smaller nanoparticles (2–6 nm) that are randomly dispersed in the hollow space of SiO 2 submicrospheres M@SiO 2 (M = Au, Pt or AuPt). The AuPt@SiO 2 submicrospheres showed good catalytic performance for epoxidation of styrene with the conversion and selectivity of 74% and 85%, respectively. The approach reported in this study could potentially be used to simplify the fabrication process of noble metal nanoalloys, which usually entails multiple steps and a previously synthesized hard metal template, and thus guide the design and creation of high-performance catalysts.
Binbin Li,Heng Liu,Chuanbin Sun,Zeeshan Ahmad,Zhaohui Ren,Xiang Li,Gaorong Han
The investigation of nano-carriers with controllable and trackable drug release kinetics has attracted worldwide attention for new tumor theranostic strategies with catabatic side effects. Herein, a range of monodispersed core–shell structured photoluminescent SrTiO3:Yb3+,Er3+@mSiO2 nanoparticles were designed and synthesized. The surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) was used to vary the microstructure of the mesoporous SiO2 shell. The specific surface area and pore volume increase proportionally with the content of CTAB. Consequently, the doxorubicin (DOX) loading capacity increases, and the drug release kinetics possesses a sustained behaviour. More importantly, the DOX release kinetics was found to correspond well to the evolution of the up-conversion luminescence (UCL) phenomenon. More rapid drug release induces more rapid photoluminescence enhancement, and vice versa. This study has therefore been anticipated to suggest another promising multifunctional drug delivery platform for advanced chemotherapies.