3C–SiC Nanocrystals as Fluorescent Biological Labels

Abstract

Silicon carbide nanocrystals are water-soluble, chemically inert, and highly fluorescent, and they may be idealas biological labels. After the uptake of3C–SiC nanocrystals, human fetal osteoblast (hFOB) cells exhibit brightgreen–yellow fluorescence (see image).The nanoparticles show high resistanceagainst photobleaching with no significant cytotoxicity.