Silica-Based NIR Nano-Emitters for Applications in Vivo and Process for Production Thereof

Abstract

Production of paramagnetic and phosphorescent nanoprobes, obtainable starting from nanometric silica particles by methods of synthesis and enrichment with O2 following suitable thermal treatments in a controlled environment. The nanoprobes thus obtained display emission in the near infrared (NIR), are excitable in the visible and in the NIR, and are characterized by a lifetime of the order of one second. These nanoprobes have considerable scientific and commercial potential in the market of the confocal spectroscopy for bio-imaging and in the market of the medical pharmaceutical applications of drug labelling and drug delivery.