Plant-derived fluorescent silicon nanoparticles featuring excitation wavelength-dependent fluorescence spectra for anti-counterfeiting applications.

By using gramineae plants as natural and accessible reaction precursors, we herein introduce a green synthetic strategy, which is efficacious for the facile production of crystalline, excitation-wavelength-dependent fluorescent and small-sized silicon nanoparticles (SiNPs). We further explore the prepared SiNPs as a novel kind of fluorescent label for anti-counterfeiting applications.