A Nanostopper Approach To Selectively Engineer the Surfaces of Mesoporous Silicon

Successful applications of mesoporous materials often require different surface properties of internal pore walls and external surfaces. The different functional moieties on the different surfaces enable them to fulfill multiple application demands. In this study, we introduce a nanostopper approach to selectively functionalize the different surfaces of porous silicon (PSi). The external surface was functionalized with amine groups to further graft with folic acid (FA) and fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) for targeting and imaging, respectively. The pore walls were functionalized with carboxyl groups to obtain a higher loading degree of doxorubicin and realize a pH-triggered drug release. The engineered PSi drug carrier showed specific targeting against cancer cells and improved cell internalization due to the FA functionalization. Moreover, the PSi carrier presented an intracellular drug delivery with pH-triggered functionality. With the selective modification, the loading degree of the drug was increased 4-fold without any compromise in the toxicity of the plain carrier.