Synthesis, characterization and biological functionalization of superparamagnetic/fluorescent bifunctional nanoparticles

Abstract

A novel class of fluorescent/superparamagnetic bifunctional nanoparticles was synthesized via the reverse microemulsion technique. These nanoparticles were studied with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and SQUID microscopy. The results show that these nanoparticles have a typical diameter of 40 nm and a saturated magnetic moment of 1.9 emu/g at room temperature. The experiment results also show that these nanoparticles exhibit a strong excitonic photoluminescence. Then, these bifunctional nanoparticles were modified with vancomycin for binding. The results show that these vancomycin modified nanoparticles can capture selectively bacterias.