Stability of silica-based nanoparticles

Abstract

Silica has received huge attention and is broadly applied to biomedical application due to advantageous properties such as low toxicity, biocompatibility and tunable synthesis in particle size, porosity and shape render. Though stable in water and phosphate buffered saline, silica nanoparticles are eroded by biological media, leading to the exposure of AgNDs from AgND@SiO2 nanoparticles and the quenching of nanodot luminescence. It have presented that a synergistic effect of organic components in cellular media, particularly the amino groups, accelerates the erosion. The results indicate that silica nanostructures are vulnerable to cellular medium and the tendency may depend on porosity and presence of foreign substance in silica layer. This study may be possible to tune the release of drug molecules from silica-based drug delivery vehicles through controlled erosion.