Lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) possess the remarkable ability to convert multiple near-infrared (NIR) photons into higher energy ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) photons, making them a prime candidate for several advanced applications within the realm of nanotechnology. Compared to traditional organic fluorophores and quantum dots (QDs), UCNPs possess narrower emission bands (fwhm of 10-50 nm), large anti-Stokes shifts, low toxicity, high chemical stability, and resistance to photobleaching and blinking. In addition, unlike UV-vis excitation, NIR excitation is nondestructive at lower power intensities and has high tissue penetration depths (up to 2 mm) with low autofluorescence and scattering. Together, these properties make UCNPs exceedingly favored for advanced bioanalytical and theranostic applications, where these systems have been well-explored. UCNPs are also well-suited for bioimaging, optically modulating chemistries, forensic science, and other state-of-the-art research applications. In this review, an up-to-date account of emerging applications in UCNP research, beyond bioanalytical and theranostics, are presented including optogenetics, super-resolution imaging, encoded barcodes, fingerprinting, NIR vision, UCNP-assisted photochemical manipulations, optical tweezers, 3D printing, lasing, NIR-II imaging, UCNP-molecule nanohybrids, and UCNP-based persistent luminescent nanocrystals.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsami.2c12370 | DOI Listing |
Nanoscale Horiz
January 2025
Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
Upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs) convert near-infrared (IR) light into higher-energy visible light, allowing them to be used in applications such as biological imaging, nano-thermometry, and photodetection. It is well known that the upconversion luminescent efficiency of UCNPs can be enhanced by using a host material with low phonon energies, but the use of low-vibrational-energy inorganic ligands and non-epitaxial shells has been relatively underexplored. Here, we investigate the functionalization of lanthanide-doped NaYF UCNPs with low-vibrational-energy SnS ligands.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMikrochim Acta
January 2025
Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Micro & Nano Materials Interface Science, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China.
An exciting upconversion nanoprobe conditioning strategy is proposed to improve the signal-to-background ratio (SBR) through a dye-sensitized strategy, in which the dye functions both as a recognition unit of the detection target and as a sensitizer to amplify the visible luminescence of the lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs), instead of a quencher. The application of this dye-sensitized upconversion nanoprobe to the visual detection of nerve agent mimics diethoxy phosphatidylcholine (DCP) showed excellent detection performance, with up to 110-fold enhancement of the luminescence response of the probe in DCP solution and a detection limit as low as 2 nM. Finally, we performed visual detection of DCP solution and vapor by using test strips containing the probe.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNano Lett
January 2025
Key Laboratory of Physics and Technology for Advanced Batteries, College of Physics, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China.
Lanthanide-doped fluoride nanocrystals have emerged as promising tools in biomedicine, yet their applications are still limited by their low luminescence efficiency. Herein, we developed highly efficient lithium-based core-shell-shell (CSS) nanoprobes (NPs) featuring a rhombic active domain and a spherical inert protective shell. By introducing Yb as an energy transfer bridge and optimizing the CSS design, a remarkable 1643-fold enhancement in visible emission and a 33-fold increase in NIR emission are achieved compared to original nanoparticles.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNat Commun
December 2024
State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Fiber Laser Materials and Applied Techniques, Guangdong Engineering Technology Research Center of Special Optical Fiber Materials and Devices, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China.
Smart control of energy interactions plays a key role in manipulating upconversion dynamics and tuning emission colors for lanthanide-doped materials. However, quantifying the energy flux in particular energy migration in the representative sensitizer-activator coupled upconversion system has remained a challenge. Here we report a conceptual model to examine the energy flux in a single nanoparticle by designing an interfacial energy transfer mediated nanostructure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Appl Mater Interfaces
January 2025
Institute of Precision Medicine, Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen 518036, China.
Controlling CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing at the spatiotemporal resolution level, especially for in vivo applications, remains a great challenge. Here, we developed a near-infrared (NIR) light-activated nanophotonic system (UCPP) for controlled CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing and synergistic photodynamic therapy (PDT). Lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles are not only employed as carriers for intracellular plasmid delivery but also serve as the nanotransducers to convert NIR light (980 nm) into visible light with emission at 460 and 650 nm, which could result in simultaneous activation of gene editing and PDT processes, respectively.
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