Issue 44, 2020

An ultrasensitive luminescent nanothermometer in the first biological window based on phonon-assisted thermal enhancing and thermal quenching

Abstract

The development of luminescent probes in biological windows has emerged as an exciting field by virtue of nanoscale spatial resolution and low tissue scattering and absorption. However, current luminescent nanothermometers in the biological windows still suffer from limited relative temperature sensitivity (Sr). Herein, one ultrasensitive ratiometric nanothermometer in the first biological window is designed based on NaYb(MoO4)2:Tm3+ nanosheets sensitized by Yb3+–MoO42− dimers. Due to the cooperation of phonon-assisted energy transfer and thermally coupled population, the 691 nm emission of Tm3+ ions realizes enhancement to 48-fold at 573 K, while the 651 nm emission of Tm3+ ions first increases slightly and then quenches severely because of the competition between phonon-assisted thermal enhancing and thermal quenching. These high-contrast thermal-dependent characteristics create a new Sr record of 6.5% K−1 at 313 K in the biological windows with high repeatability (better than 98.3%) and low temperature uncertainty (0.16 K). After tuning the luminescence process by Yb3+–MoO42− dimers, the power-dependent thermometric signals are determined by constructing calibration curves. Further the temperature detection of biological tissues confirms the feasibility of the proposed nanothermometer.

Graphical abstract: An ultrasensitive luminescent nanothermometer in the first biological window based on phonon-assisted thermal enhancing and thermal quenching

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
27 Aug 2020
Accepted
15 Oct 2020
First published
16 Oct 2020

J. Mater. Chem. C, 2020,8, 15603-15608

An ultrasensitive luminescent nanothermometer in the first biological window based on phonon-assisted thermal enhancing and thermal quenching

M. Jia, Z. Sun, H. Xu, X. Jin, Z. Lv, T. Sheng and Z. Fu, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2020, 8, 15603 DOI: 10.1039/D0TC04082G

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements