Synthesis of magnetic/luminescent alginate-templated composite microparticles with temperature-dependent photoluminescence under high-frequency magnetic field.

Highly magnetic luminescent alginate-templated composite microparticles were successfully synthesized by a novel process combining emulsification and layer-by-layer self-assembly techniques. The composite microparticles were characterized by ζ-potential analyzer, transmission electron microscope, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscope, fluorescence spectrophotometer, and vibrating sample magnetometer. Experimental observations indicated that the composite microparticles had excellent magnetic properties, and its photoluminescence could be precisely controlled by varying the number of deposition cycles of polyelectrolytes and CdTe/polyelectrolyte multilayers. Moreover, the composite microparticles could be heated up in a high-frequency magnetic field and demonstrated linear temperature-dependent photoluminescence over the range from room temperature to hyperthermia temperature. The composite microparticles are expected to be promising candidates for biomedical applications, such as immunoassay, biosensing and imaging, and cancer diagnosis and treatment.