Premium
Assembly and Characterizations of Bifunctional Fluorescent and Magnetic Microneedles With One Decade Length Tunability
Author(s) -
Lugagne JeanBaptiste,
Brackx Gwennhaël,
Seyrek Emek,
Nowak Sophie,
Sivry Yann,
Vitorazi Leticia,
Berret JeanFrançois,
Hersen Pascal,
Charron Gaëlle
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
advanced functional materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.069
H-Index - 322
eISSN - 1616-3028
pISSN - 1616-301X
DOI - 10.1002/adfm.201700362
Subject(s) - materials science , ternary operation , bifunctional , superparamagnetism , fluorescence , nanotechnology , polymer , nanoparticle , magnetic nanoparticles , self assembly , polyelectrolyte , magnetic field , fabrication , magnetization , optics , composite material , medicine , biochemistry , chemistry , physics , alternative medicine , pathology , quantum mechanics , computer science , programming language , catalysis
This report presents the fabrication of bifunctional magnetic and fluorescent microneedles (µNDs) made of a ternary mixture of magnetic nanoparticles (NPs), quantum dots (QDs), and polyelectrolyte. The assembly relies on the electrostatic complexation of negatively charged NPs with positively charged polymer strands and is controlled by the charge ratio between the nanoparticle building blocks and the polymer mortar. The resulting 1D objects can be actuated using an external magnetic field and can be imaged using fluorescence microscopy, thanks to the fluorescent and superparamagnetic properties inherited from their NP constituents. Using a combination of core and surface characterizations and a state‐of‐the‐art image analysis algorithm, the dependence of the brightness and length on the ternary composition is thoroughly investigated. In particular, statistics on hundreds of µNDs with a range of compositions show that the µNDs have a log‐lormal length distribution and that their mean length can be robustly tuned in the 5–50 µm range to match the relevant length scales of various applications in micromixing, bioassays or biomechanics.