Novel multifunctional nanospheres of Zn1/3Fe8/3O4@Ag: synthesis, properties and application for multi-modality tumor imaging

New multifunctional nanospheres have been designed and synthesized through a green and facile strategy, which could be readily used in multi-modality tumor imaging through near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) imaging, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) imaging. Such nanospheres are made of porous superparamagnetic Zn1/3Fe8/3O4 nanosphere cores covered by a thin layer shell of Ag clusters. While the shell of Ag clusters provides efficient NIRF imaging, the Zn1/3Fe8/3O4 nanosphere cores allow external magnetic manipulation and readily facilitates their utilization for MRI and CT imaging.