title: Direct Aqueous-Phase Synthesis of Sub-10 nm "Luminous Pearls" with Enhanced in Vivo Renewable Near-Infrared Persistent Luminescence.
abstract: Near-infrared (NIR) persistent luminescence nanoparticles (PLNPs), possessing unique NIR PL properties, have recently emerged as important materials for a wide variety of applications in chemistry and biology, for which they must endure high-temperature solid-state annealing reactions and subsequent complicated physical post-treatments. Herein, we report on a first direct aqueous-phase chemical synthesis route to NIR PLNPs and present their enhanced in vivo renewable NIR PL. Our method leads to monodisperse PLNPs as small as ca. 8 nm. Such sub-10 nm nanocrystals are readily dispersed and functionalized, and can form stable colloidal solutions in aqueous solution and cell culture medium for biological applications. Under biotissue-penetrable red-light excitation, we found that such nanocrystals possess superior renewable PL photoluminescence in vitro and in vivo compared to their larger counterparts currently made by existing methods. We believe that this solid-state-reaction-free chemical approach overcomes the current key roadblock in regard to PLNP development, and thus will pave the way to broad use of these advanced miniature "luminous pearls" in photonics and biophotonics.
authors.affiliation: †Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts 01605, United States.
authors.forename: Zhanjun
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: †Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts 01605, United States.
authors.forename: Yuanwei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: †Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts 01605, United States.
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: †Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts 01605, United States.
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Dongsheng
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: ‡Chemical Engineering Department, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, United States.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: †Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts 01605, United States.
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Han
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D007259:Infrared Rays; D049449:Luminescence; D049408:Luminescent Agents / Q000737:chemistry*; D008163:Luminescent Measurements; D051379:Mice; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D036103:Nanotechnology; D061848:Optical Imaging; D010316:Particle Size; D013499:Surface Properties; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D049408:Luminescent Agents; D014867:Water
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