Creating alloys at the nanometer scale is producing materials with properties unlike anything produced before says scientists at the University of Pittsburgh, who have demonstrated that these alloys possess the ability to emit such bright light they could have potential uses in medicine.
“We demonstrate alloys that are some of the brightest, near-infrared (NIR)-light-emitting species known to date. They are 100 times brighter than what’s being used now,” said Jill Millstone, principal investigator of the study and assistant professor of chemistry in Pitt’s Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. “Think about a particle that will not only help researchers detect cancer sooner but be used to treat the tumor, too.”
They found that the body can absorb visible light well but doesn’t absorb red light well, so using NIR light emitters to visualize cells or parts of the body is a promising area for minimally invasive diagnostics.
In addition, their study was able to show—for the first time—a continuously tunable composition for nanoparticle alloys, meaning the ratio of materials can be altered as needed and small organic molecules can be used to “glue” an alloy in place, so that the components remain mixed.
Their findings were published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
