Mixed Solvent Assisted Growth Of Eu(III) Doped Calcium Phosphate Micro/Nanoparticles for Efficient Cell Imaging Applications

The production of biomimetic materials have become an emerging topic owing to their good biocompatible nature, which promotes better properties and improved performance in biomedicine. Herein, we prepare Eu³⁺ doped calcium phosphate nanoparticles(NPs) by co-precipitation method with varied pH using a mixed solvent system of ethylene glycol and water where ethylene glycol acts as capping ligand while synthesis. The as-synthesized NPs are structurally characterized with various characterization techniques such as XRD, FTIR, TGA-DSC, FE-SEM, TEM, and so on. Moreover, the photoluminescent properties are also evaluated. XRD, FTIR and TGA-DSC studies reveal the growth of different phases like monetite (acidic medium) and hydroxyapatite (near neutral and basic medium).The electric dipole transition of Eu³⁺(i.e., ⁵D₀→⁷F₂, 616 nm) dominates over other transitions. Eu³⁺ are localized abundantly in Ca I site of crystal lattice for hydroxyapatite phase. The samples prepared at near physiological pH displays biomimic nature with bones structural morphology. Upon treatment of NPs, human breast cancer specific MDA-MB-231 cell exhibits best cytocompatibility even up to highest concentration of NP treatment (500 µg/mL). NPs are visually internalized within cells as confirmed by both confocal microscopy and FACS analysis. Combining together the proposed samples encourage applying in biomedicine like bioimaging of cells and drug delivery vehicles.