Electrospraying preparation and characterization of harmonic Ba2TiSi2O8 microparticles

Harmonic micro/nano-particles are very useful tool for in vivo bio-labeling applications due to their attractive properties. For example, they are free of blinking and photo bleaching, their excitation wavelength is continuously tunable and their signal is coherent. Here, we report the preparation of a new kind of harmonic microparticle, Ba 2 TiSi 2 O 8 microparticle, based on the electrospraying technique. Morphology, crystalline structure, biocompatibility and optical property of the Ba 2 TiSi 2 O 8 microparticles were investigated by scanning electron miscroscopy, transmission electron miscroscopy, X-ray diffraction, L929 cells incubation and pulsed laser irradiation. The results indicated that most of the Ba 2 TiSi 2 O 8 microparticles prepared here sized in the 100 ~ 400 nm range, demonstrated good biocompatibility to L929 cells and presented efficient second-harmonic generation property, thus is promising as bio-labeling material. Graphical Abstract