Self‐Assembly of Ultrabright Fluorescent Silica Particles

Light shines through: A one-step self-assembly synthesis of mesoporous silica particles with encapsulated organic dyes (see image) is described. The dyes are physically encapsulated inside nanosize channels/tubes in micrometer-size silica matrix particles. There is virtually no leakage of the dyes and the fluorescence of the assembled particles is very stable. Much brighter fluorescence can be obtained from the encapsulated dyes than from the same dye in aqueous solution.