Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles (MSN) were synthesized following a published procedure with slight modifications . A mixture was prepared by combining 50 mL of Milli-Q water, 120 mg of CTAB in 6 mL of water and 720 µL of 1 M NaOH, which was then heated to a temperature setpoint of 94 °C for the heating blocks (resulting in an internal temperature of the synthesis solution of ca. 80 °C) under stirring at 300 rpm. After temperature stabilization for 30 mins, the stirring speed was increased to 820 rpm and 2.7 mmol of TEOS in 1 mL of ethanol were added at a rate of 2 mL/min, while the stirring and heating were continued for 2 h. The particles were then cooled down, washed by two cycles of centrifugation (14k rcf, 20 mins, 25 °C) and ultrasonic redispersion (90 s) in ethanol (40 mL).