Ultrabright Lanthanide Nanoparticles

Ultrabright fluorescent mesoporous silica nanoparticles.

The first successful approach to synthesizing ultrabright fluorescent mesoporous silica nanoparticles is reported. Fluorescent dye is physically entrapped inside nanochannels of a silica matrix created during templated sol-gel self-assembly. The problem of dye leakage from open channels is solved by incorporation of hydrophobic groups in the silica matrix. This makes the approach compatible wit...

Lanthanide - doped upconversion nanoparticles

Lanthanide oxide nanoparticles in biology

Lanthanide oxide nanoparticles attract great interest as potential fluorescent labels for biological applications. They offer long fluorescence lifetimes (about 1 ms) and a lack of photo bleaching. These properties allow the label fluorescence to be separated from the short-lived bio fluorescence and make possible the development of new detection techniques in biochemistry. The morphology of th...

Nanohybrid conjugated polyelectrolytes: highly photostable and ultrabright nanoparticles.

We present a general and straightforward one-step approach to enhance the photophysical properties of conjugated polyelectrolytes. Upon complexation with an amphiphilic polymer (polyvinylpyrrolidone), an anionic conjugated polyelectrolyte (poly[5-methoxy-2-(3-sulfopropoxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene]) was prepared into small nanoparticles with exceptional photostability and brightness. The polymer f...

Lanthanide-Doped Nanoparticles for Diagnostic Sensing

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...