Construction of magnetic-fluorescent bifunctional nanoparticles via miniemulsion polymerization for cell imaging

Abstract Magnetic-fluorescent bifunctional nanoparticles (NPs) have been widely used in biomedical applications. In this work, magnetic-fluorescent bifunctional NPs (P/Fe3O4/Nile Red NPs) were achieved via a facile miniemulsion polymerization. The morphologies and properties of the as-prepared P/Fe3O4/Nile Red NPs were systematically characterized. High-efficiency encapsulation of iron oxide (Fe3O4) and Nile Red in polymer matrix endowed the resultant P/Fe3O4/Nile Red NPs with prominent superparamagnetism and bright fluorescence. Furthermore, the cell viability experiment revealed the low cytotoxicity of P/Fe3O4/Nile Red NPs, indicating the P/Fe3O4/Nile Red NPs are suitable for cell imaging. This work provides a one-pot facile method to fabricate magnetic-fluorescent bifunctional NPs.