Industrial-level production of ultrastable selenium nanoparticles using a confined coordination synthetic strategy

The chemical nature of the formation and aggregation behavior is an important factor affecting the structural stability of nanoparticles, which is also an important basis on which to promote their future industrial production and clinical translation. Herein, we report a confined coordinated strategy using lentinan to control the nucleation and growth kinetics of selenium nanoparticles, which yields kilogram-scale production and up to 4 years of stability. Mechanistic analysis uncovers that the strong intermolecular interactions of selenium atoms with the hydroxy-rich lentinan significantly slow down the nucleus formation and growth process of the nanoparticles. In addition, the confined domain of lentinan circumvents the excessive accumulation, coagulation, and phase transformation of selenium atoms, thereby enhancing the stability of selenium nanoparticles. The findings on nucleation and growth processes of the nanoparticles may provide guidance toward future fabrication and industrialization of inorganic nanoparticles.