Aqueous Suspension of Porous SiO₂ Nanoparticles, Containing 9,10-diphenylanthracene, in Agrophotonics

Abstract

An aqueous colloidal suspension of porous silicon dioxide nanoparticles containing an organic phosphor 9,10-diphenylanthracene was obtained by ultrasonic dispersion. The average size of suspension nanoparticles is 15–25 nm. This suspension has a characteristic absorption spectrum for diphenylanthracene in the region from 345 to 420 nm and a photoluminescence spectrum in the region from 400 to 550 nm. The resulting suspension was used for irrigation when growing bulbous plants (lilies and gladiolus) under conditions of a short light period with additional lighting with LEDs-based phytolamps with red and blue spectra. It has been established that the use of this suspension with nanoparticles that enter plants as an artificial photosynthetic pigment accelerates the growth of bulbous plants by an average of 15–20% compared to control samples under the same lighting conditions.