Water-Soluble Multimodal Core/ Shell NaGdF4:Yb,Er@NaGdF4 Upconverting Nanoparticles for Cancer Diagnostics

Abstract

Upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs) are promising new generation of imaging probes capable of working as theranostic agents. Upconversion is a nonlinear optical process that converts two or more photons to a higher-energy out-put photon. UCNPs are guesthost systems where trivalent lanthanide ions are dispersed as a guest in an appropriate dielectric host lattice with a dimension less than 30nm. Generally, upconversion emission arises from 4f-4f orbital electronic transitions.