Synthesis, Characterization, and Application of Composite Alginate Microspheres with Magnetic and Fluorescent Functionalities

摘要

Composite alginate microspheres were synthesized via a modified emulsification technique and characterized by inverted optical microscope, transmission electron microscope, zeta-potential analyzer, UV-vis spectrophotometer, luminescence spectrometer, and vibrating sample magnetometer. The results show that the synthetic parameters including the weight ratio of maghemite nanoparticles to alginate, hydrophile-lipophile balance (HLB) value, stirring speed, and CaCl2 dripping rate play important roles in the synthesis of microspheres. Furthermore, the composite alginate microspheres exhibit good super-paramagnetism and fluorescence, which can serve both as magnetic resonance contrast agents and optical probes for biological imaging.