On the generality of dye incorporation in silica nanoparticles

Abstract

Doping dyes in silica has a wide range of applications, but there is currently no general method of synthesis. Here, we show that 98 cationic dyes of 11 series could be directly doped in silica nanoparticles of uniform size. In this co-precipitation method, the negatively charged silica precursor, poly(silicic acid), basically wraps the dyes as counter ions and preserves them.