Preparation and characterization of core-shell type Ag@SiO2 nanoparticles for photodynamic cancer therapy.

With recent scientific developments, Photodynamic therapy (PDT) offers the promisie to become incorporated into the mainstream of cancer therapy. Noble metal based nano-PDT is increasing due to its advantages in the field of biomedicine. In this study, noble metal based Ag@SiO2 core-shell nanoparticles were synthesized and to confirm the core-shell structure they were characterized by UV-vis, XRD, FTIR, TEM, and EDX. Our data confirm that core-shell type Ag@SiO2 nanoparticles maintain its ability to kill cancer cells upon light irradiation. This shows that SiO2 shell may not only prevent aggregation but it also may enhance the photodynamic activity of Ag nanoparticles.