Upconversion-luminescent nanomaterials for biomedical applications

Abstract

Upconversion nanoparticles (UCNs) have been attracted considerable research interest because of their unique merits, which are outstanding optical merits: sharp emissions, significant anti-Stokes shifts, long lifetimes, and negligible photobleaching in biomedical fields. In this chapter, the recent efforts on the fabrication of UCNs with organic, inorganic, and biomolecules that create UCNs as the next generation biomedical agents for drug-delivery, bioimaging, and cancer therapy were illustrated. The recent developments and uses of UCNs in analytical and biomedical research areas were described with their optical properties and the surface modifications of UCNs and their synergistic theranostic applications including photodynamic, photothermal, and chemo therapies for in vivo and in vitro studies. Finally, the prospects and future challenges of UCNs in bioimaging, drug release, multimodal imaging, multi-stimuli and combinatorial responsive therapies against cancers are described. © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.