A Sub‐50‐nm Monosized Superparamagnetic Fe3O4@SiO2 T2‐Weighted MRI Contrast Agent: Highly Reproducible Synthesis of Uniform Single‐Loaded Core–Shell Nanostructures |
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| Authors: | Feng Chen Dr Wenbo Bu Prof Yu Chen Dr Yuchi Fan Dr Qianjun He Dr Min Zhu Dr Xiaohang Liu Dr Liangping Zhou Prof Shengjian Zhang Dr Weijun Peng Prof Jianlin Shi Prof |
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| Institution: | 1. State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructures, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200050 (P.R. China), Fax:(+86)?21‐52413122;2. Department of Radiology, Shanghai Cancer Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032 (P.R. China) |
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| Abstract: | Oleic acid stabilized superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION) were selected as the cores for fabrication of sub‐50‐nm monodisperse single‐loaded SPION@SiO2 core–shell nanostructures. Parameters that influence the formation of SPION@SiO2 in the water‐in‐oil reverse microemulsion system have been systematically investigated. The sufficiently high concentration of well‐dispersed SPION, together with an appropriately low injection rate of tetraethoxysilane, were found to be the keys to efficiently prevent the homogeneous nucleation of silica and obtain a high‐quality single‐loaded core–shell nanocomposite. A more detailed mechanism for incorporating oleic acid capped inorganic functional nanoparticles into silica is proposed on the basis of previous reports and our new experimental results. Finally, the as‐synthesized SPION@SiO2 nanospheres are exploited as an MRI‐enhanced contrast agent, and their contrast effect in solution is tested by using a clinical MRI instrument. |
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| Keywords: | core– shell structures homogeneous nucleation imaging agents nanostructures microemulsions |
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