TY - JOUR
T1 - Purification of nano-porous silicon for biomedical applications
AU - Koynov, Svetoslav
AU - Pereira, Rui N
AU - Crnolatac, Ivo
AU - Kovalev, Dmitry
AU - Huygens, Ann
AU - Chirvony, Vladimir
AU - Stutzmann, Martin
AU - De Witte, Peter
PY - 2011/6
Y1 - 2011/6
N2 - Recently, various bio-medical applications of nanoporous silicon (np-Si) have been suggested. This work investigates the biocompatibility of np-Si particles taking into account hazardous residua confined in the pores after preparation. The emphasis is on the potential application of such particles as oxygen photosensitizer for photodynamic therapy of cancer, which requires both negligible toxicity of np-Si particles in darkness and a high photo-cyto-toxic effect due to generation of singlet oxygen under illumination. Considerable amounts of water soluble toxic impurities are found to be present in the nanoporous shell of micrometer-sized np-Si particles immediately after their preparation by chemical etching of bulk silicon powder. The effects of several ordinary cleaning treatments are investigated by using thermal effusion mass-spectroscopy and FTIR spectroscopy. A particular purification procedure is developed, capable to reduce the concentration of residual impurities to levels acceptable for bio-medical applications while preserving the required photo-activity of the np-Si particles.
AB - Recently, various bio-medical applications of nanoporous silicon (np-Si) have been suggested. This work investigates the biocompatibility of np-Si particles taking into account hazardous residua confined in the pores after preparation. The emphasis is on the potential application of such particles as oxygen photosensitizer for photodynamic therapy of cancer, which requires both negligible toxicity of np-Si particles in darkness and a high photo-cyto-toxic effect due to generation of singlet oxygen under illumination. Considerable amounts of water soluble toxic impurities are found to be present in the nanoporous shell of micrometer-sized np-Si particles immediately after their preparation by chemical etching of bulk silicon powder. The effects of several ordinary cleaning treatments are investigated by using thermal effusion mass-spectroscopy and FTIR spectroscopy. A particular purification procedure is developed, capable to reduce the concentration of residual impurities to levels acceptable for bio-medical applications while preserving the required photo-activity of the np-Si particles.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79957745744&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/adem.201080091
U2 - 10.1002/adem.201080091
DO - 10.1002/adem.201080091
M3 - Article
SN - 1438-1656
VL - 13
SP - B225-B233
JO - Advanced Engineering Materials
JF - Advanced Engineering Materials
IS - 6
ER -
