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Acetic acid-mediated rapid cubic-to-hexagonal (α–β) phase transformation for ultra-bright lanthanide-doped β-NaYF4 nano-bioprobes

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Abstract

Hexagonal-phase NaYF4 (β-NaYF4) has been acknowledged to be one of the most efficient doping hosts to prepare bright lanthanide-doped luminescent nano-bioprobes for various biomedical applications. However, to date, it remains a great challenge to synthesize ultra-bright lanthanide-doped β-NaYF4 nano-bioprobes under a low reaction temperature by using conventional synthetic methods. Herein, we first develop an acetic acid (HAc)-mediated coprecipitation method for the preparation of ultra-bright lanthanide-doped β-NaYF4 nanoprobes under a low reaction temperature at 200 °C. Based on a series of comparative spectroscopic investigations, we show that the use of HAc in the reaction environment can not only promote the rapid α–β phase transformation of NaYF4 host at 200 °C within 1 h but also boost the absolute photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) of NaYF4 nanocrystals to 30.68% for near-infrared emission and to 3.79% for upconversion luminescence, both of which are amongst the highest values for diverse lanthanide-doped luminescent nanocrystals ever reported. By virtue of their superior near-infrared luminescence, we achieve optical-guided dynamic vasculature imaging in vivo of the whole body at a high spatial resolution (23.8 µm) under 980 nm excitation, indicating its potential for the diagnosis and treatment evaluation of vasculature-related diseases.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Fund of Fujian Science & Technology Innovation Laboratory for Optoelectronic Information (No. 2020ZZ114), the Key Research Program of Frontier Science CAS (No. QYZDY-SSW-SLH025), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21871256 and 12204481), the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province (No. 2022J01211422), and Fund of Advanced Energy Science and Technology Guangdong Laboratory (No. DJLTN0200/DJLTN0240).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, 350007, China

    Shihui Jiang

  2. State Key Laboratory of Structural Chemistry, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fuzhou, 350002, China

    Shihui Jiang, Jianxi Ke, Guowei Li, Aijun Liu, Xiaohan Li, Lixiang Ye, Feilong Jiang, Yongsheng Liu & Maochun Hong

  3. China Fujian Science & Technology Innovation Laboratory for Optoelectronic Information of China, Fuzhou, 350108, China

    Jianxi Ke, Yongsheng Liu & Maochun Hong

  4. Advanced Energy Science and Technology Guangdong Laboratory, Huizhou, 516000, China

    Yongsheng Liu & Maochun Hong

  5. The First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China

    Yongsheng Liu & Maochun Hong

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  1. Shihui Jiang
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Correspondence to Jianxi Ke, Yongsheng Liu or Maochun Hong.

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Acetic acid-mediated rapid cubic-to-hexagonal (α–β) phase transformation for ultra-bright lanthanide-doped β-NaYF4 nano-bioprobes

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Jiang, S., Ke, J., Li, G. et al. Acetic acid-mediated rapid cubic-to-hexagonal (α–β) phase transformation for ultra-bright lanthanide-doped β-NaYF4 nano-bioprobes. Nano Res. 16, 10026–10033 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-023-5671-5

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