Surfactant-assisted microwave synthesis of luminescent/magnetic bifunctional hydroxyapatite nanorods for dual-model imaging

Nanomaterials with magnetic and luminescent properties have received great interest owing to their impact on dual modal bioimaging. Here, we report a facile microwave synthesis of Fe3+/Eu3+ substituted hydroxyapatite (Eu-Fe-HAp) nanorods using CTAB as a surfactant. Various characterizations clearly revealed that prepared product is phase pure Fe3+/Eu3+ substituted HAp nanorods with 20–30 nm wide and 50–100 nm long. The obtained Eu-Fe-HAp nanorods shows two strong luminescent peak at 592 and 617 nm originated from 5D0 → 7FJ electronic transitions of Eu3+ ions and it endow with red fluorescence imaging potential. Also, it exhibits paramagnetic characteristic with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) potential owing to magnetic dipole moment build from unpaired electrons of Fe3+ ions present in HAp. Thus, prepared luminescent/magnetic bifunctional HAp nanorods can be a prospective material for bimodal imaging in future.