Nontoxic photoluminescent tin oxide nanoparticles for cell imaging: deep eutectic solvent mediated synthesis, tuning and mechanism

Non-toxic and photoluminescent (PL) tin oxide nanoparticle synthesis in Deep Eutectic Solvents (DESs) is being reported herein. Both radiation (electron beam and γ radiation) and solvothermal methods were employed for the synthesis. An electron beam radiation technique proved to be more appropriate in tuning the size and morphology compared to the solvothermal process. Addition of any external oxido-reductive or stabilizing agent could be avoided by the use of Reline (choline chloride : urea; 1 : 2) as the host matrix. Detailed analysis of the PL behaviour of the nanoparticles is another important aspect of this study. The oxygen vacancies and tin interstitials responsible for photoluminescence have been identified from the de-convoluted PL spectra of the nanoparticles. Time dependent PL kinetics depicts PL decay at ∼1.2 ns due to near band edge emission and at ∼3.15 ns due to defect state emission. The synthetic process has been standardized focusing on the size of the particles by varying all possible experimental parameters such as the temperature, concentration of the precursors, reaction time, dose of irradiation and dose rate. Synthesized nanoparticles have been characterized using XRD, XPS and EDX. TEM images illustrate nanomorphological differences obtained in the two methods. The probable mechanism of synthesis (both radiation and thermal) has been proposed based on the results obtained from transient studies using electron pulses and FTIR experiments. Cytotoxicity data demonstrate that the nanoparticles are suitable for application in biological studies involving cells up to a concentration of 10 μM. Imaging experiments with these photoluminescent nanoparticles exhibit their ubiquitous distribution including the nucleus of the tumour cells, which signifies potential application of these NPs for targeted drug delivery in cancer chemotherapy. Furthermore, the nanoparticles exhibited excellent antioxidant properties in vitro. The findings herein can open up enormous possibilities for more advanced and dedicated research towards using this cheap and versatile nanomaterial in a variety of biomedical applications.