Upconversion luminescent nanomaterials: A promising new platform for food safety analysis.

Foodborne diseases have become a significant threat to public health worldwide. Development of analytical techniques that enable fast and accurate detection of foodborne pathogens is significant for food science and safety research. Assays based on lanthanide (Ln) ion-doped upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) show up as a cutting edge platform in biomedical fields because of the superior physicochemical features of UCNPs, including negligible autofluorescence, large signal-to-noise ratio, minimum photodamage to biological samples, high penetration depth, and attractive optical and chemical features.

PAA Modified Upconversion Nanoparticles for Highly Selective and Sensitive Detection of Cu Ions.

Detection of the Cu ions is crucial because of its environmental and biological implications. The fluorescent-based organic sensors are not suitable for Cu detection due to their short penetration depth caused by the UV/visible excitation source. Therefore, we have demonstrated a highly sensitive and selective near-infrared (NIR) excitable poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) coated upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) based sensor for Cu detection.