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Updated: Jan 5, 2026
Synthesis of Core-shell Lanthanide-doped Upconversion Nanocrystals for Cellular Applications
Published on: November 10, 2017
Recent advances of lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles for biological applications
Hui Li1, Xin Wang1, Dingxin Huang1
1MIIT Key Laboratory of Critical Materials Technology for New Energy Conversion and Storage, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering & Key Laboratory of Micro-systems and Micro-structures, Ministry of Education, Harbin Institute of Technology, 150001 Harbin, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
Near infrared (NIR) excited lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) are emerging as a new type of fluorescent tag for biological applications, which can emit multi-photon ultraviolet, visible or NIR luminescence for imaging or activation of photosensitive molecules. Here, we present a comprehensive review on recent advances of UCNPs for a manifold of biological applications, including upconversion mechanisms, building bright multicolor upconversion nanocrystals, single nanoparticle and super resolution imaging, in vivo optical and multimodal imaging, photodynamic therapy, light-controlled drug release, biosensing, and toxicities. Our perspectives on the future development of UCNPs are also described.
