Summary: 1767© 2011 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim wileyonlinelibrary.comsmall 2011, 7, No. 13, 1767­1773
Nanophosphors
In nature, materials that exhibit significant magnetism and
efficient luminescence rarely exist.[1]
Such materials are
highly desirable in a number of potential biological applica-
tions including drug and gene delivery, bio-sensing, and bio-
imaging with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast.[2]
Recently, some reports have focused on the synthesis and
applications of bifunctional nanomaterials such as hybrid[3]
and core­shell nanocomposites.[4]
All of these materials are
either composites or hybrid structures combining lumines-
cent and magnetic materials individually. In these materials,
organic dyes or metal complexes were immobilized on a
silica layer, which leads to critical problems of leaching and
photobleaching.[4a]
Alternatively, semiconductor quantum
dots such as CdS, CdSe, and CdTe, have been demonstrated
to be highly effective for cellular and animal imaging.[5] How-

Source: Ajayan, Pulickel M. - Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Rice University

Collections: Materials Science