Lanthanide-Doped Nanoparticles for Diagnostic Sensing

• Main Authors: Song Yeul Lee, Min Lin, Aeju Lee, Yong Il Park
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2017-11-01
• Series: Nanomaterials
• Subjects: lanthanide; upconversion; nanoparticles; diagnostics; sensing
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-4991/7/12/411

Lanthanide-doped nanoparticles exhibit unique optical properties, such as a long luminescence lifetime (up to several milliseconds), sharp emission peaks, and upconversion luminescence over the range of wavelengths from near-infrared to visible. Exploiting these optical properties, lanthanide-doped nanoparticles have been widely utilized for cellular and small animal imaging with the absence of background autofluorescence. In addition, these nanoparticles have advantages of high signal-to-noise ratio for highly sensitive and selective diagnostic detection. In this review, we summarize and discuss recent progress in the development of highly sensitive diagnostic methods using lanthanide-doped nanoparticles. Combined with a smartphone, portable luminescence detecting platforms could be widely applied in point-of-care tests.