Lanthanide-Functionalized Hydrophilic Magnetic Hybrid Nanoparticles: Assembly, Magnetic Behaviour, and Photophysical Properties

The lanthanide-functionalized multifunctional hybrid nanoparticles combining the superparamagnetic core and the luminescent europium complex were successfully designed and assembled via layer-by-layer strategy in this work. It is noted that the hybrid nanoparticles were modified by a hydrophilic polymer polyethyleneimine (PEI) through hydrogen bonding which bestowed excellent hydrophilicity and biocompatibility on this material. A bright-red luminescence was observed by fluorescence microscopy, revealing that these magnetic-luminescent nanoparticles were both colloidally and chemically stable in PBS solution. Therefore, the nanocomposite with magnetic resonance response and fluorescence probe property is considered to be of great potential in multi-modal bioimaging and diagnostic applications.