Ligand-induced evolution of intrinsic fluorescence and catalytic activity from cobalt ferrite nanoparticles.

To develop CoFe(2)O(4) as magneto-fluorescent nanoparticles (NPs) for biomedical applications, it would be advantageous to identify any intrinsic fluorescence of this important magnetic material by simply adjusting the surface chemistry of the NPs themselves. Herein, we demonstrate that intrinsic multicolor fluorescence, covering the whole visible region, can be induced by facile functionalization of CoFe(2)O(4) NPs with Na-tartrate. Moreover, the functionalized CoFe(2)O(4) NPs also show unprecedented catalytic efficiency in the degradation of both biologically and environmentally harmful dyes, pioneering the potential application of these NPs in therapeutics and wastewater treatment. Detailed investigation through various spectroscopic tools unveils the story behind the emergence of this unique optical property of CoFe(2)O(4) NPs upon functionalization with tartrate ligands. We believe our developed multifunctional CoFe(2)O(4) NPs hold great promise for advanced biomedical and technological applications.