Abstract
A multifunctional assay with up-/down-conversion (UC/DC) nanohybrids which enables the detection and real-time tracking of hazardous molecules has been developed for use in the field of photoluminescence (PL) point-of-care testing due to its cost and convenience. In particular, innovative approaches such as dual or multimodal imaging and detection under only a single-photon pulse system are highly difficult owing to the issues of device simplification and miniaturization. In this work, we first demonstrated single-photon-driven UC/DC dual-modal PL nanohybrids and showed their high performance in in vivo mercury detection and real-time tracking in a mussel simultaneously. Specifically, UC/DC nanohybrids capable of being stimulated by a single photon were presented via a facile and versatile strategy by combining DC fluorophores for heavy metal ion screening with triplet-triplet annihilation upconversion (TTA-UC) nanocapsules for real-time tracking. By adopting the advantages of the structural transformation of DC fluorophores and highly stable TTA-UC nanocapsules, the outstanding monitoring performance of a standard heavy metal ion (i.e. Hg2+) was achieved by a dual-modal PL assay with nanohybrids, exhibiting ultra-sensitivity (under 1 nM) and high-selectivity. Interestingly, their application in the real world was also remarkable in screening and tracking of mercury in mussels. This single-photon-driven UC/DC convergence system will provide powerful analytical methodologies for target detection and real-time tracking in vivo and will attract widespread attention from researchers in the fields of PL nanomaterials and fluorophores.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1668-1677 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Journal of Materials Chemistry A |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2020 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was supported by the Brain Research Program through the National Research Foundation (NRF) of Korea government (MSIT) (NRF-2016M3C7A1905384); a Technology Program for establishing biocide safety management from the Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute, funded by the Korea Ministry of Environment (no. RE201804085); the BioNano Health-Guard Research Center funded by the MSIT of Korea as a Global Frontier Project (HGUARD_2013-M3A6B2078950); the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) Grant funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT for the First-Mover Program for Accelerating Disruptive Technology Development (NRF-2018M3C1B9069834); the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) Grant funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT (NRF-2019M3C1B8077544); the Korea Electric Power Corporation (R18XA06-29); the Korea Institute of Planning and Evaluation for Technology in Food, Agriculture and Forestry (IPET) through the Advanced Production Technology Development Program, funded by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) (318104-3) and the KRIBB Initiative Research Program.
Publisher Copyright:
This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Chemistry(all)
- Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
- Materials Science(all)
