A Versatile Strategy for Constructing Ratiometric Upconversion Luminescent Probe with Sensitized Emission of Energy...

When fabricating ratiometric optical probes using lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs), which are promising luminescent materials that have widely been utilized in biosensing and bioimaging as energy donors, it is still a challenge to obtain the emission signal of energy acceptors with reasons unclear so far. Herein, we reveal that the energy-transfer efficiency and brightness of UCNPs as well as the aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) of energy accepting dyes are the main factors restricting the emission of energy acceptors, and we have circumvented this problem by modulating the structure of UCNPs and the assembly manner of the energy donor-acceptor pair. On this basis, a proof-of-concept ratiometric upconversion nanoprobe was constructed for hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) detection with an elaborate dye Fl-1 as an energy acceptor. As the H₂S concentration increased, the emission intensity of Fl-1 at 525 nm increased gradually, accompanied by a decrease of upconversion luminescence at 480 nm, thus providing a ratiometric signal of F₄₈₀/F₅₂₅ dependent on the H₂S concentration. This probe was able to track H₂S in living cells and zebrafish and visualize the H₂S level of mice in physiological processes.