Mesoporous Europium-Doped Titania Nanoparticles (Eu-MTNs) for Luminescence-Based Intracellular Bio-Imaging

Monodisperse and mesoporous europium (Eu)-doped titania nanoparticles (denoted as Eu-MTNs) were prepared by a co-synthesis method with the presence of a cationic surfactant (i.e., CTAB). A maximum loading amount of 8 mol% of Eu could be successfully incorporated into the framework of MTNs. The synthesized Eu-MTNs samples were characterized with X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), with their luminescent property examined by photoluminescence (PL). Under ultraviolet irradiation, the Eu-MTNs samples exhibit several characteristic luminescence corresponding to 5D0-7F(j) for Eu+3 ions, which can be attributed to the energy transfer from titania nanocrystallite to Eu3+ ions dispersed in amorphous mesoporous titania region. The potential intracellular bio-imaging application of the synthesized Eu-MTN nanoparticles was demonstrated with a breast cancer cell line (i.e., BT-20). High biocompatibility and strong luminescence of the Eu-MTNs show great potential in biomedical applications.