Issue 19, 2014

Fabrication of bright and small size semiconducting polymer nanoparticles for cellular labelling and single particle tracking

Abstract

In this work, we demonstrate a convenient and robust strategy for efficient fabrication of high fluorescence quantum yield (QY, 49.8 ± 3%) semiconducting polymer nanoparticles (SPNs), with size comparable with semiconductor quantum dots (Qdots). The SPNs were synthesized by co-precipitation of hydrophobic semiconducting polymer together with amphiphilic multidentate polymer. Comprehensive spectroscopic and microscopic characterizations showed that the SPNs possess superior photophysical performance, with excellent fluorescence brightness and reduced photoblinking in contrast with Qdots, as well as good photostability compared to a fluorescent protein of a similar size, phycoerythrin. More importantly, by conjugating membrane biomarkers onto the surface of SPNs, it was found that they were not only suitable for specific cellular labelling but also for single particle tracking because of the improved optical performance.

Graphical abstract: Fabrication of bright and small size semiconducting polymer nanoparticles for cellular labelling and single particle tracking

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
15 Jun 2014
Accepted
28 Jul 2014
First published
05 Aug 2014

Nanoscale, 2014,6, 11351-11358

Author version available

Fabrication of bright and small size semiconducting polymer nanoparticles for cellular labelling and single particle tracking

L. Wei, P. Zhou, Q. Yang, Q. Yang, M. Ma, B. Chen and L. Xiao, Nanoscale, 2014, 6, 11351 DOI: 10.1039/C4NR03293D

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