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Updated: Feb 8, 2026

Synthesis of Core-shell Lanthanide-doped Upconversion Nanocrystals for Cellular Applications
Published on: November 10, 2017
Lanthanide-Doped Upconversion Nanocarriers for Drug and Gene Delivery
1School of Chemical Engineering, Chonnam National University, Gwangju 61186, Korea. 188608@jnu.ac.kr.
Abstract:
Compared to traditional cancer treatments, drug/gene delivery is an advanced, safe, and efficient method. Nanoparticles are widely used as nanocarriers in a drug/gene delivery system due to their long circulation time and low multi-drug resistance. In particular, lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) that can emit UV and visible light by near-infrared (NIR) upconversion demonstrated more efficient and safer drug/gene delivery. Because of the low penetration depth of UV and visible light, a photoinduced reaction such as photocleavage or photoisomerization has proven restrictive. However, NIR light has high tissue penetration depth and stimulates the photoinduced reaction through UV and visible emissions from lanthanide-doped UCNPs. This review discusses the optical properties of UCNPs that are useful in bioapplications and drug/gene delivery systems using the UCNPs as a photoreaction inducer.
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