A multifunctional mesoporous Fe3O4/SiO2/CdTe magnetic-fluorescent composite nanoprobe

A multifunctional mesoporous, magnetic and fluorescent Fe3O4/SiO2/CdTe nanoprobe with well-defined core-shell nanostructures was prepared. This multifunctional nanoprobe was synthesized through a novel method mainly including two steps. The first step involved the controlled growth of mesoporous silica layer onto the surface of Fe3O4 nanoparticle using tetraethyl orthosilicate as silica source, cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide as template, and 1,3,5-triisopropylbenzene as pore swelling agents. The second step involved the layer-by-layer assembly of 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane and fluorescent CdTe quantum dots with the mesoporous Fe3O4/SiO2 nanoparticles. The well-designed nanoprobe exhibits strong excitonic photoluminescence and super-paramagnetism at room temperature. In attention, the mesoporous silica layer of the nanoprobe with great loading capacity makes it a promising candidate as targeted drug delivery platform.