Enhancing Hybrid Upconversion Nanosystems via Synergistic Effects of Moiety Engineered NIR Dyes

Abstract

Hybrid upconversion nanosystems have been reported to improve the low absorption efficiency of lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs). However, the low quantum yield and poor photostability of NIR dyes pose challenges for practical uses. Here, we introduce a bulky moiety, 4-(1,2,2-triphenylvinyl)-1,1′-biphenyl (TPEO), to enhance its quantum yield by suppressing the bond rotation and improve the stability by deactivating the photoinduced oxidization. Compared with the conventional IR806, the formed NIR dye, TPEO-Cy, has been characterized to deliver three times higher quantum yield and seven times better photostability. Moreover, we take advantage of the strong affinity of sulfonate chains on the TPEO-Cy to bind to the surface of UCNPs. Taking together the synergistic effect, we have achieved a 242-fold upconversion emission enhancement over the benchmark of IR806-sensitized system and an ∼800 000-fold increase than the bare UCNPs. Our design of the NIR dyes suggests a new scope to search for more efficient upconversion nanohybrids.

An overview of boosting lanthanide upconversion luminescence through chemical methods and physical strategies

“…6d). 49 Apart from the above-mentioned dyes, many other organic dyes have also been reported for dye-sensitized UCL in the literature, including IR783, IR808, IR820, IR845, Cyto840, ATTO488, Cy3.5, Cy787, BDP dye, etc. 50–57…”

Polymeric Dendrimers as Nanocarrier Vectors for Neurotheranostics

“…[207] Furthermore, some functionalized upconverting nanomaterials have been well-established by our group that are biocompatible, possess desirable luminescence with negligible biological autofluorescence, and long lifetimes. [208][209][210][211][212][213][214][215][216][217][218][219][220][221][222] Therefore, they can be utilized for therapeutics and neuromodulation and harmoniously conjugated with various dendrimers to be exploited in the diagnosis and treatment applications of the CNS.…”

Tandem fabrication of upconversion nanocomposites enabled by confined protons

“…13,25,36 Generally, to construct uniform UCNP-based nanocomposites with desired properties, UCNPs are first synthesized and then modified for further fabrication. [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40] UCNPs modified through both ligand exchange and intercala- His current research involves the investigation of inorganic functional nanomaterials, such as rare earth-doped luminescent nanomaterials, for bioapplications, catalysis, and sensing. tion with pristine ligands have been successfully used for the fabrication of nanocomposites.…”

“…29,30 Particularly, ligand-free UCNPs allow UCNPs to directly interact with other components, bringing synergistic effects to the nanocomposites. [31][32][33][34] Using ligand-free UCNPs, various UCNP-based nanocomposites with novel properties, namely UCNP-metal organic frameworks (MOFs), UCNP-biomolecules, and UCNP-photosensitizers, have been successfully prepared. [35][36][37][38][39][40] Unfortunately, fabrication methods that use ligand-free UCNPs as building blocks are usually multistep processes, which are complex and time consuming.…”

“…Generally, to construct uniform UCNP-based nanocomposites with desired properties, UCNPs are first synthesized and then modified for further fabrication. 26–40 UCNPs modified through both ligand exchange and intercalation with pristine ligands have been successfully used for the fabrication of nanocomposites. 27 Recently, ligand-free UCNPs have emerged successfully for constructing UCNP-based nanocomposites because ligand-free UCNPs can provide a clean surface for the desired modifications, enabling controllable fabrication.…”