Synthesis of Water-Dispersible Mn2+ Functionalized Silicon Nanoparticles under Room Temperature and Atmospheric Pressure for Fluorescence and Magnetic Resonance Dual-Modality Imaging

Silicon nanoparticles (Si NPs) have been widely used in fluorescence imaging. However, rigorous synthesis conditions and the single modality imaging limit the further development of Si NPs in the field of biomedical imaging. Here, we reported a method for synthesizing water-dispersible Mn2+ functionalized Si NPs (Mn-Si NPs) under mild experimental conditions for fluorescence and magnetic resonance dual-modality imaging. The whole synthesis process was completed under room temperature and atmospheric pressure, and no special and expensive equipment was required. The synthetic nanoparticles, with favorable pH stability, NaCl stability, photostability, and low toxicity, emitted green fluorescence (512 nrn). At the same time, the nanoparticles also demonstrated excellent magnetic resonance imaging ability. In vitro, their T-1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging effect was obvious, and the value of longitudinal relaxation degree r(1) reached 4.25 mM(-1) s(-1). On the basis of their good biocompatibility, Mn-Si NPs were successfully used for the fluorescence imaging as well as magnetic resonance imaging in vivo.