A New Insight on Silicon Dots

Fluorescent silicon nanoparticles (silicon dots) are low-toxicity nanomaterials of utmost interest to analytical and bioanalytical chemistry. Silicon dots have proved to be excellent fluorescent tags for sensor development applications. This review focuses on silicon dots and their fluorescent properties and applications. Silicon dots can be produced via nine basic synthetic methods and their fluorescent properties differ considerably, according to how they are produced and functionalized. The photoluminescent mechanism depends on the particle size, surface defects and functionalization molecules. This review presents a synopsis of the most important recent analytical and bioanalytical applications, along with the toxicity assays performed with silicon dots.